The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe Journal • Have you ever gone into a place that made you uneasy? • Have you ever gotten back in touch with someone you hadn’t heard from in a long time and discovered your friend had changed? • Have you ever been so conflicted that you questioned your sanity? Discussion • Dracula, Psycho, • What do these Jurassic Park movies/authors do to make you feel uneasy • Stephen King, Anne Rice feeling? Gothic Novels • Haunting atmosphere – Burials, tortures, hypnotism, resurrection of corpses • Working of the human mind • Romantic sensibility – Feelings = most essential human characteristic – Peaks of emotion and imagination Edgar Allan Poe • Never felt accepted • Influenced by King and Bradbury • Gothic details to enhance the story – Rotting mansion – Mysterious illness – Sounds at night – Being buried alive • Build the mood Video Clip • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3wo6ISC WQU POST READING Discussion • What words and phrases in the description convey a strong sense of sickness and death? (p. 265) • What are some of the words in this description of the interior of the house that enhance the atmosphere of gloom and dread? (p. 267) • What parallels can you see between this description of Usher and Poe’s description of the house? (p. 267) • What kind of a laugh is unaccompanied by a smile? (p. 271) • What can you infer from the statement, “Such opinions need no comment”? (p. 271) • How has Roderick’s behavior affected the narrator? (p. 274) • What details heighten the atmosphere of the narrator’s nighttime fears? (p. 275) • Poe uses the storm to create a mood. How would you describe this mood? What specific words and phrases produce it? (p. 275) • What happens in the climactic scene? (p. 278) Assignments • Questions p. 280 #1, 2, 3, 5 • Activities – Movie poster: Create a movie poster for a film version of “The Fall of the House of Usher” that captures the atmosphere of the work. The poster should include the title and a thrilling caption. – Radio script: Adapt “The Fall of the House of Usher” to a fifteen-minute radio presentation. Write a script and include directions for sound effects and background music that support the story’s mood. Art, Music, and Literature • Divide the class into groups. Tell each group to locate examples (5 minimum) of their art form that the narrator might have used to successfully calm Usher’s nerves. – Group 1: art – Group 2: music – Group 3: literature