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)."