The Fall of the House of Usher Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)

Quote #4

I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity--an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the grey wall, and the silent tarn--a pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. (4)

This atmosphere is like a physical manifestation of the mood Poe creates in his story.

Quote #5

"Her decease," he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, "would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers." (13)

This is the end of the line for the Ushers – the fate of the entire family blood line lies with the fate of Roderick and Madeline.

Quote #6

A striking similitude between the brother and sister now first arrested my attention; and Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured out some few words from which I learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them. (24)

This passage suggests a sort of supernatural connection between the two twins. This connection, we will soon see, transcends even death.