The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous luster of the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its Arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity.
Sybolism
"The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones"
Plot Twist
“Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!”
Paragraph 8 His appearance shows how he is very thin and as is said within the story seemingly at the brink of collapsing, this shows foreshadowing quite clearly as nearing the latter end of the story, when it is revealed Madeline is alive, her merely falling upon her brother is enough for him to collapse and so after die, along with the collapse of the house that followed soon after.
Imagery
Paragraph 5The decaying atmosphere and literal decaying of the house symbolizes and shows the deteriorating conditions of the Usher. Here the mansion seems to be falling apart just like the Usher appears to be mentally and physically throughout the story.
Personification
Paragraphs 46-7In a surprising twist of events, it is revealed Madeline is in fact alive which is incredibly shocking to the reader as besides the Usher's nonsensical murmuring there was little leading up to this reveal which leaves the reader in much surprise.
Simile
Paragraph 1Edger Allan Poe uses scattered imagery throughout the story to give an idea of the surroundings and create the overall mood of the story, in this case here when the author reaches the Usher's home he heavily describes the depressing scene helping the reader not only feel what the author may be feeling but also imagine it with great detail.
"I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eyelike windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium—the bitter lapse into everyday life—the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime"
Paragraph 1Throughout the story, personification is greatly used for the Usher's house as if it is its own being with thoughts and feelings like any other. The house itself is given a powerful and rather evil presence as the story moves forward and is continuously described in great detail.
"...upon the vacant eyelike window..."
Paragraph 48In the story, many similies are used in order to compare things to one another to get a better sense of what is being said, in this particular scene the reader can interpret the shouting as incredibly loud as it is described as sounding like "the voice of a thousand waters." This is significant due to it showing the end of the Usher and his sister as well as the fall of the house of Usher.
there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters.