The Fall of the House of Usher

by Edgar A. Poe

Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our last meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a distant part of the country—a letter from him—which, in its wildly importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply. The manuscript gave evidence of nervous agitation. The writer spoke of acute bodily illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him—and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best and indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheer­fulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in which all this, and much more, was said—it was the apparent heart that went with this request—which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons. Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always excessive and habitual. I was aware, however, that this very ancient family had been noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sensibility of temperament, dis­playing itself, through long ages, in many works of exalted art, and manifested, of late, in repeated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusive charity, as well as in a passionate devotion to the intricacies, perhaps even more than to the orthodox and easily recognizable beauties, of musical science. I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, I considered, while running over in thought the perfect keeping of the char­acter of the premises with the accredited character of the people, and while speculating upon the possible influence which the one, in the long lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon the other—it was this deficiency, perhaps, of collateral issue, and the consequent undeviating trans­mission, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation of the “House of Usher”—an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion.

Notes and exercises:

1.     The sound [q] is represented by the digraph “th” in some words of Greek and Latin origin:

þ    thesis    theatre  orthodox           theory   author   method  apathy  arithmetic

þ    atheist   lethal    lethargy            lethargic           catholic apathetic           sympathy           empathy

2.     Define the meaning of the following verbs and memorize their spelling: propose, pose, compose, dispose, expose, suppose, impose, decompose.

3.     Spell the words given in phonetic transcription:

þ      At the time the [´bu¶(r)zwa:´zi:] was the ruling class.

þ      The [rek¶men´deiò(¶)nz] of the government [k¶´miti:] were turned down by the majority of the dockers’ union.

þ      Several M.P.’s demanded in their speeches that the government should [p¶(r)´sju:] a policy of peace.

þ      The [k¶´miti:] then [pr¶´si:did] to draft the resolution.

þ      This train has sleeping [¶´kom¶´deiò¶n] only.

þ      You should have [ri´f¶:(r)d] to the telephone directory.

4.     The abbreviation MS stands for manuscript. Can you say what these other initials and abbreviations stand for?

þ    X-mas, UK, COD, M.Sc., Esq., Hon., c/o, i.e.

þ    TUC, HMS, IOU, MP, Ltd., cf., et. al., Ms

þ    BMA, RAF, BA, FBI, Co., ff., idem, anon.

þ    VIP, UNO, MA, KGB, Bros., viz., ibid., et. seq.

þ    BBC, B.C., Ph.D., Messrs., Oxon., a.m., etc., misc.

þ    SOS, A.D., B.Sc., Rev., Cantab., p.m., GB, PS

5.     Say which words from the left-hand column can be used as synonyms of the words from the right-hand column:

A.

þ    contemptible, deficient

þ    industrious, trifling

þ    artificial, shameful

þ    inadequate, diligent

þ    petty, false

B.

þ    tedious, placid

þ    tepid, informative

þ    calm, lukewarm

þ    lower, dull

þ    instructive, inferior

C.

þ    lenient, invaluable

þ    harmful, cheap

þ    inquisitive, injurious

þ    inexpensive, curious

þ    priceless, kind

D.

þ    negligent, stingy

þ    mean, ludicrous

þ    solemn, careless

þ    ridiculous, grave

þ    related, associated

E.

þ    brusque, extravagant

þ    unpleasant, untidy

þ    slovenly, curt

þ    hidden, disagreeable

þ    lavish, concealed

6.            Word study:

sojourn                            to stay for a time

boon companion           a jolly, congenial companion

importunate                   making repeated and inconvenient requests (of persons): an importunate beggar; urgent (of affairs): importunate demands/claims

munificent                      extremely generous; large in amount or splendid in quality (of something given)

collateral                        descended from a common ancestor but in a different line, i.e. through different sons or daughters

7.            Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

I obeyed forthwith (at once, without losing time), the stem of the Usher race had put forth, at no period, an enduring branch;

to go forth, to sail forth, back and forth, to stretch forth one’s arm, to bring forth young, to put forth leaves, from this time forth (henceforth), and so forth, so far forth, forthcoming, help is forthcoming, the money will be forthcoming, the answer is always forthcoming, forthright