A discussion of the symbolism of death in Edgar Allen Poe `The fall of the house of Usher`

A discussion of the symbolism of death in Edgar Allen Poe `The fall of the house of Usher` The Symbolism of Death in Edgar Allen Poe 's `The Fall of the House of Usher` Death plays a crucial role in much of Edgar Allen Poe 's poetry and prose , whether as an aspect of allegory or poetic symbolism as in works such as "The Masque of the Red Death "The Fall of the House of Usher or "The Raven " or as a crucial component of Poe 's literary theories especially regarding the composition

of poetry , as manifested in "The Poetic Principle " adn to a lesser extent "The Rationale of Verse " For a writer like Poe , death formed not only a symbolic and thematic point of departure for many of his prose and poetic creations , but the contemplation of death as an active principle in the creative process allowed Poe to attain a style (or idiom ) in American letters which is as philosophically charged as it is Gothic and is as immersed in mysticism and archetypal reality as it is based in sound writing mechanics and theories of narrative technique

In Poe 's "most famous tale , The Fall of the House of Usher the writer "presents a multilayered allegory of the dised mind in which the house itself may be understood as the domain of unreason , its physical collapse analogizing the psychological disintegration of Roderick Usher (Kennedy 7 ) but within this complex allegorical structure , Poe 's Gothic imagination actually begins to take flight and as we will now discuss , the end result of "The Fall of the House of Usher " is that of genuine novelty and invention within the extant principles and notions of Gothic fiction , where Poe 's literary and philosophical visions are given free reign and are , in fact , united within Poe 's ubiquitous death-symbolism which , in turn , is offered with myriad variations and connotations , all of which are readily discernable for the careful and dedicated reader who begins to peel away the layers of Poe 's exceedingly complex Gothic tale , in the long run , discovering a vision which is both grotesque and universal , life-affirming and terrifying -- mortal and immortal -- rational and insane

Although the symbolism of death in "The Fall of the House of Usher " is -- of course -- allegorical at leat in regards to the major thematic elements of the story , death-as-a-symbol played such a large role in Poe 's own biography that a short discussion of biographical materials relative to the symbolism of his various works is warranted prior to our investigation of the death-symbolism in "The Fall of the House of Usher " By tracking the "trajectory " of the presence of death in both Poe 's private life and his literary works and theories , the unique symbolism of death in "The Fall of the House of Usher " will be much easier to discern adn appreciate . While it would be sheer folly to suggest that Poe 's poetic and prose works are , prima facia...