Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
As you read the story, notice the details Poe gives about the setting and complete the following.
1. How does the narrator hear
from Roderick?
2. What two things do the
peasantry think the term “House of Usher” refer to?
3. Describe the room that
Roderick Usher is staying in. Capture gothic elements here!
4. The narrator is struck
by Roderick’s excessive nervous agitation. However, he had been prepared
for something like this. What had prepared him?
5. Roderick describes his
illness to the narrator. What are some of the things he is bothered by? (Name at least 3.)
6. Who is Roderick’s
only living relative?
7. While they speak, this relative
walks through the room, apparently unaware of the narrator. The narrator “regarded
her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with ___________________.”
8. Madeline’s long lasting
illness baffled her doctors. She seemed to lose interest in life and physically
she would occasionally experience a seizure. Explain what happens to her.
9. The narrator has been summoned
here to help cheer Roderick. However, after spending time with Roderick, he understood
“the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which darkness…poured forth upon all objects…of the
universe in one unceasing radiation of _____________________.”
10. To pass the time, what does
Roderick do? (Name at least 2 things.)
11. What mood is set in stanzas
I-IV of “The Haunted Palace”? In stanzas V-VI?
12. What kinds of books did
the narrator and Roderick read?
13. When Madeline dies, what
does Roderick plan to do with the body? Why?
14. Describe the vault in which
the narrator and Roderick place Madeline’s coffin.
15. As they gaze on Madeline, the
narrator commented on her resemblance to Roderick. What does he tell the narrator?
16. After Madeline’s
death, how did Roderick change?
17. On the 7th or 8th night after
Madeline’s death, why couldn’t the narrator sleep?
18. Roderick is up roaming
the house and goes to the narrator’s room. What does he ask the narrator?
19. To pass the time and take
their minds off the storm, the narrator begins to read to Roderick. What is he
reading?
20. In the story that the
narrator is reading, Ethelred beats open a wooden door. What does the narrator
hear in the house?
21. In the story that the
narrator is reading, the dragon shrieks when Ethelred kills him. What does the
narrator hear in the house?
22. How does Roderick react
to these sounds?
23. What does Roderick say
is causing the sounds in the house?
24. How does Roderick die?
25. The narrator flees from
the house out into the storm. A wild light appears behind him so he turns to
see what caused it. What does he witness?