What Is The Mood In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe writes of dreary, depressing, and dull conditions in many of his works. In The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe uses the setting of the story to create a sombre mood throughout the story. Poe mentions the dreariness of the house itself inside and out and its surrounding areas. At the beginning of the story, Poe writes “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--” (Poe 3). This example from the story proves the dreariness in the mood the author is trying to make the reader feel. It also gives a feeling of sadness and darkness, which prepares the reader for the rest of the dark story. This segment is only one of the many examples that describe the surrounding areas of the house, specifically the path leading up to it. Poe also includes “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” (Poe 3). This directly states how the darkness of the setting is impacting the narrator.

Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves” (Poe 6). This example describes the exterior of the house, and creates an image in the reader's mind. The house they imagine is old and used to have color, but now it is too hard to distinguish. Large amounts of dark green and black specks are spread sporadically about the house, also webs are overtaking the house as if it were haunted. This image the author creates gives the reader an uneasy and dark feeling of what the inside of the house will be like. It is later discovered that the setting inside the house is just as dreary as the