Student Activities for The Fall of the House of Usher
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Essential Questions for "The Fall of the House of Usher"
- How are elements of Gothic literature reflected in characters and setting?
- How can fear paralyze a person’s mind?
- What kind of mood can language and setting create?
- How do great writers like Poe create suspense and a visceral experience for their readers?
- How do literary elements affect readers' understanding of a literary work?
Focusing on Gothic Style
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a classic example of Gothic style. Get your students familiar with the Gothic style of writing and architecture first!
Gothic Writing
| Setting | Story is set in a bleak or remote location. |
|---|---|
| Plot | The plot typically involves macabre or violent incidents. |
| Characters | Characters are usually in a state of psychological or physical torment. |
| The Supernatural | Often an otherworldly element is present and driving the plot. |
Gothic Architecture
| Tall, Sweeping Structures | Very vertical, usually draws the eye upwards, to emphasize grandeur; inside usually features vaulted ceilings |
|---|---|
| Flying Buttresses | Exterior architectural support that was just as ornate as the structure itself |
| Pointed Arches and Ribbed Vaults | Ribbed vaults allowed for more windows, and pointed arches could reach higher while supporting more weight |
| Ornamentation | Stained glass and carefully carved statues were typical features. These included Biblical scenes, figures, and even gargoyles |
More Storyboarding Activity Ideas for "The Fall of the House of Usher"
It is so easy to use our assignment wizard to create your own activity from scratch. All you have to do is: give your assignment a title, add directions, provide a template and send it to your students! You can even use any of the storyboards you see within our activities as examples by quickly and easily copying and customizing them for your intended purpose. Don't forget to look through our thousands of worksheet and poster templates as well! You can add as many templates to an assignment as you'd like!
- Create an alternate ending to the story with a storyboard that shows and tells the story from a different perspective.
- Complete a storyboard biography of Edgar Allan Poe. (This is a great pre-reading activity!)
- Ask students to create a graphic novel using multiple storyboards that depict the various works of Poe.
- Give students the opportunity to storyboard their answers to "The Fall of the House of Usher" Study Guide Questions using images and text, or write their own summary!
- Want to take Storyboard That offline? Create “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe worksheets with questions and illustrations related to the story.
- Add a presentation to create a “The Fall of the House of Usher” interactive project!
Ideas for Post-Reading Activities for "The Fall of the House of Usher" for pairs, groups or individuals!
Storyboard That is an excellent tool for students to create fun and engaging projects as a culminating activity after finishing a novel or poem. In addition to our premade activities, here are some ideas that teachers can customize and assign to students to spark creativity in individual students, pairs, or small groups for a final project. Several of these ideas include Storyboard That templates that can be printed out or copied into your teacher dashboard and assigned digitally. All final projects can be printed out, presented as a slide show, or, for an extra challenge, as an animated gif!
- For Groups: Turn Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Fall of the House of Usher" into a short play to reenact the narrative for the class! Use the traditional storyboard layout to plan out your scenes. You can add text to your storyboards, or simply use the cells to visualize each scene of your play.
- Using one of Storyboard That’s board game templates, create a game based on the poem for your classmates to play!
- For Groups: Divide the stanzas of the poem amongst your group members. Each member of the group creates a storyboard for their assigned stanza.
- Using the worksheet layout and Storyboard That’s worksheet assets, create your own "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe worksheet! They can be in the form of a test or a quiz for other students in the class. You can create all kinds of questions such as multiple choice, short answer, and even matching! When you are done, be sure to make an answer key.
- Using one of Storyboard That’s biography poster templates, create a poster about the character or the author. Be sure to include important biographical features such as: place and date of birth, family life, accomplishments, etc.
- Create a book jacket of the poem using one of Storyboard That’s book jacket templates. Use Storyboard That art to create the cover, and write a summary of the poem on the back, just like real books have!
- Using one of Storyboard That’s social media templates as a starting point, create a social media page for the character or the author! Be sure to think how the character thinks while creating this page.
- Create a scrapbook page made by the character or the author. Storyboard That has lots of premade templates that you can use as is, or change to fit your character’s personality! Check out our scrapbook templates today!
Edgar Allan Poe Lesson Plan
Author Study
Extend and enhance your students' knowledge of Poe and his works by conducting an Author Study. Students can research more about Edgar Allan Poe, read his various stories and poems and make connections to his life and the time period. Students can use storyboards to analyze his work, his style, prevalent themes and more!
Buy "The Fall of the House of Usher" on Amazon
About the Author: Edgar Allan Poe
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher", 1839
Edgar Allan Poe was an American short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor. He is internationally known as a literary genius. Some of his most famous short stories and poems, like "The Fall of the House of Usher", are dark tales of grief, mystery, macabre and the supernatural.
Some of the most famous works by Edgar Allan Poe in order of their publication are: "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839), "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842), "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1843), "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843), "The Black Cat" (1843), "The Purloined Letter" (1844), "The Raven" (1845), "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846), and "The Bells" (1848). All are considered literary classics today.
Early Life
Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. His life was fraught with tragedy from an early age. His father, David Poe, Jr. abandoned the family when Poe was just a baby. Poe's mother, English-born Elizabeth Arnold Poe, was a well-liked actress who tragically died of tuberculosis when Poe was only 3 years old. He carried an image of his mother throughout his life.
Poe was taken in by John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, VA and his wife, Frances Allan. While Poe was sadly separated from his siblings William and Rosalie, he was afforded the opportunity of a good education and was doted upon by Mrs. Allan, who had no children of her own. Poe showed great promise with writing at an early age but was discouraged by his foster father who preferred he go into the family business.
It is said that Poe had a loving relationship with his foster mother but sadly, Mrs. Allan, too, died of tuberculosis when Poe was a young man. Poe had a difficult relationship with his strict foster father. Mr. Allan helped Poe attend the University of Virginia for one year and later the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but otherwise he and Poe had a tumultuous relationship. Mr. Allan did little to help Poe financially and even left Poe out of his will. Despite his talents as a writer, Poe struggled with money, gambling, alcohol, and poor health throughout his life.
Career and Marriage
At the University of Virginia, Poe impressed his classmates with his talents as both a writer and an artist. While away at school, Poe's fiancee, Sarah Elmira Royster became engaged to another. Heartbroken, in 1827, Poe moved to Boston where he published his first pamphlet of poems followed by another volume in 1829 in Baltimore. In 1833, Poe published the short story, "MS. Found in a Bottle" and in 1835, he became the editor of the "Southern Literary Messenger" in Richmond. Having finally found a stable profession, Poe was then married to his much younger cousin, Virginia Clemm.
Poe was known as a harsh and combative critic at the "Southern Literary Messenger" and his stint there didn't last long. His reputation as being antagonistic was well known and he even had a feud with another famous poet of his day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Poe bounced around, working for various other magazines and journals and in 1844 he moved to New York City with his wife, Virginia. Despite his numerous publications prior, it wasn't until he published "The Raven" in 1845 that he was finally considered a popular literary star of his day. So much so that Poe's nickname even became, "The Raven". It was published in "The Evening Mirror" where Poe worked as a critic and it became an overnight sensation. While the publication of "The Raven" brought Poe great acclaim and fame, it did not bring him any fortune. In fact, he earned a mere $14.00 for it. Having lived most of his life impoverished despite steadily working, Poe was an advocate for better wages for writers.
Death
When Poe wrote "The Raven" he was foreshadowing the loss of his own beloved. On January 30, 1847, in a tragic twist of fate, Poe's young wife, Virginia, died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 - the same age his mother was when she died and the same cause of death as both his mother and foster mother. Poe fell into a deep depression and although he continued to work, suffered poor health, both mental and physical. Poe did manage to write an ode to his lost love called, "Annabel Lee".
Poe was known to have abused alcohol and was said to have looked pale and sickly in the days leading up to his death. It is unknown the exact cause of Poe's death. Some suspect foul play, others believe that it was actually rabies that led to his early demise. He was found delirious and semi-conscious on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland and died in the hospital on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40. Poe's final words were, "Lord, help my poor soul."
Edgar Allan Poe is remembered as a singular talent of imaginative storytelling. His works helped define the Romanticism and American Gothic Literary Movements of his time and he is recognized as one of the first authors of detective fiction. His works continue to influence many books and movies today. Despite his sorrowful life, his legacy lives on.
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