The Fall of the House of Usher and "The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe

I found the Fall of the House of Usher to be a bit spooky.  I am not too familiar with Poe, I have not read a lot of his stuff, but I do see he specialized in mystery and horror.  His childhood friend, Roderick Usher, suffers from mental illness and “for many years, has never ventured forth” from the dwelling he is tenanting.  He and his sister, Madeline, are the only Usher’s left.  This ancient family is about to cease to exist.   Madeline suffers from a disease that even the family doctors cannot grasp.  She dies the first night of the visit from the man, and childhood friend whom Usher summons.  According to Usher, Madeline died.  He wanted to keep her body a fortnight in a temporary entombment.  The coffin was placed in a mysterious, dark area, called a donjon, in the lower level of the house.  Apparently, she came back to life while the visitor was reading from the “Mad Trist” of Sir Lancelot Canning.  There were three frighteningly familiar coincidences in the house.  The first was an echo in the house of the cracking and whipping sound Lancelot was describing.  The second was of the unnatural shriek from the dragon as described by romancer, coming from a hard to tell part of the house.  The third was a shriek that timed with the shield falling to the silvery floor in the book as the visitor read the passage.  At this point, chaos.  Madeline falls on her brother, causing him to die.  The visitor then flees the house.  I collapses into the tarn in the red moonlight. 

 

            I enjoyed reading “the Raven.” It seems that “Lenore” is a former love of his life.  The raven just repeats again and again, “Nevermore!” Once upon a time in a midnight dreary.