The Fall of the House of Usher quotes
9 famous lines from The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe, word for word, with what each means and where it comes from.
30 min read
- 1
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.
Meaning: The narrator approaches the Usher mansion through a bleak autumn landscape that establishes the story’s oppressive mood.
NarratorParagraph 1 - 2
I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
Meaning: Simply seeing the mansion fills the narrator with overwhelming sadness he cannot explain.
NarratorParagraph 1 - 3
I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results.
Meaning: Roderick fears future events because of how they might affect his already fragile mental state.
Roderick UsherParagraph 11 - 4
In this unnerved, in this pitiable, condition I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.”
Meaning: Roderick believes terror will eventually destroy both his sanity and his life.
Roderick UsherParagraph 11
- 5
If ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher.
Meaning: Roderick’s paintings convey abstract thoughts and feelings rather than merely depicting recognizable objects.
NarratorParagraph 16 - 6
And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh—but smile no more.Meaning: The ruined palace in Roderick’s song represents a mind whose former harmony has given way to madness.
Roderick UsherParagraph 24 - 7
It was no wonder that his condition terrified—that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions.
Meaning: Roderick’s terror spreads to the narrator, weakening his ability to resist his friend’s superstitious beliefs.
NarratorParagraph 30 - 8
We have put her living in the tomb!
Meaning: Roderick reveals that Madeline was still alive when they sealed her inside the burial vault.
Roderick UsherParagraph 47 - 9
Madman!”—here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul—“Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!”
Meaning: Roderick’s terror reaches its peak as he declares that Madeline has escaped and reached the chamber door.
Roderick UsherParagraph 47
Questions about these lines
What does Roderick Usher’s statement about fear mean?
Roderick fears the psychological effects of events more than physical danger itself. He believes an overwhelming fright will destroy his reason and kill him.
What does the palace in Roderick Usher’s song symbolize?
The palace symbolizes the human mind. Its earlier beauty represents reason and harmony, while its corruption reflects mental collapse and mirrors Roderick’s awareness of his own deterioration.
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