E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore

E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore: "The narrator's comparison of Roderick's state to that of 'the irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of his most intense excitement' (III, 279) is, in fact, a positive indication according to Poe's ideas about the 'ultimate' existence. Usher's state resembles the mesmeric trance which Poe describes in 'Mesmeric Revelation,' and which, he says, '. . . resembles the ultimate life; for when I am entranced the senses of my rudimental life are in abeyance, and I perceive external things directly, without organs. . .' (V, 250). Roderick's heightened sensitivity seems to suggest how closely he is approaching his metamorphosis."

E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore

E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore: "The analogies with Roderick Usher's temperament are striking. The extreme acuteness of his senses seems to suggest a straining of his being toward that 'ultimate' state in which the whole body becomes one undifferentiated sense-organ. The painfulness of all but the most restrained sensations makes it appear as though the 'circuits' of his 'rudimentary' sense organs are overloaded. This painfulness is to be expected, since Poe considers the pain which man experiences to be integral to human experience on earth, and believes that 'The pain of the primitive life of Earth, is the sole basis of the bliss of the ultimate life in Heaven' (V, 253)."

YouTube - Reissiger: Weber's Last Waltz / Fairy Waltz

YouTube - Reissiger: Weber's Last Waltz / USHER PLAYED THIS ON GUITAR

Sentience.

What is the "Sentience" of the house of usher ?
Is He a Relaible Or Mad narrator?
Have then been experimenting with drugs?- does the Gothic atmosphere and setting give clues to where the
characters mind's are ?
Has Usher been slowley poisoning his sister? Is there beaut amonst all this decay and pain - does the music soften the blow into hell ?Or make it more painful ?

Poe's Library

Poe's Library

• The Books .(that Poe & Usher read in The House Of Usher, they are real books unlike the trist about Ethelbert and the Dragon at the end of the story. )

''We pored together over such works as-;

• the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset;-(1709-1777) wrote the anticlerical Vairvert & Ma Chartreuse
• the Belphegor of Machiavelli;-By Nicholas Machiavelli (1469-1527),a demon comes to Earth to prove that woman damn man to hell.
• the Selenography of Brewster; Sir David Brewster (1781-1868)Scottish physicst who studied optics & polarized light -
• the Heaven and Hell of Swedenborg-(1688-1772)-Swedish Scientist & Mystic presents a fantastical precise anatomy of living conditions in Heaven & Hell, seeing the two places as mutually attractive opposites.
• the Subteranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm de Holberg-(1684-1754)-Was a Danish dramitist & historian , deals with the voyage to the land of death & back.
• the Chiromancy of Robert Flud,-(1574-1637)-English Physician & noted Rosicrucian then being a new organization of esoteric philosopy & theology that purported to be based on ancient law from the middle east.
• of Jean d'Indagine,-( Early 16th century)-Palm Reading
• and of
• De la Chambre; (1594-1669
• Ludwig Tieck (1773 -1853) The Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck; - about a journey into another world
• and the City of the Sun by Campanella.- also wrote on Palm reading
• Directorium Inquisitorium by Dominican Eymeric de Gironne;-
• and there were passages
•  in Pomponius Mela .- (1st Century )was a Roman whose widley used on geography described strange beasts ("oegipans" are African Goat men).

Ushers cheief delight , however was found in the earnest and repeated perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quatro Gothic-
the manual of the forgotten church--the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae.

 (Taken from Norton American Literature Sixth Edition)

Fuseli: The Nightmare:

Fuseli: The Nightmare:

E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore

E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore

''With an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium -the bitter lapse into common life-the hideous dropping off of the veil..What was it -I paused to think -what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of The House of Usher? -
 The Fall of The House of Usher. The Norton Anthology Of American Literature (sixth edition)

Beeble's blog: The Labyrinth of Usher

Beeble's blog: The Labyrinth of Usher