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Passage Analysis by Lindsay Coppens. Thesis: Poe uses metaphor and alliteration in combination with vivid description to establish a mood of heavy pressure while introducing his theme of alienation in “The Fall of the House of Usher.”. The Passage:.
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Thesis: Poe uses metaphor and alliteration in combination with vivid description to establish a mood of heavy pressure while introducing his theme of alienation in “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
The Passage: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.
Metaphor: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. The phrase “shades of evening” emphasizes the weight and pressure of the sky pulling down with nightfall.
Alliteration: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. Heavy, sensory adjectives such as dull, dark, and soundless along with “d” alliteration establish thudding, heavy mood.
Isolation is emphasized through diction: “alone”, “singularly” Vivid Description: Autumn implies decay and impending death During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. “Within view” is ambiguous…Is he able to see the house…or does the house see him??. Even nature, through the clouds, is oppressively pushing down on the narrator.