"" In this description, straight from the first words, Poe gives the reader a sense of old age by describing it as "an excessive antiquity-. His description of old age is then reinforced again by the phrase, "The discoloration of the ages has been great."" Next, Poe's description of the old fungi web work, and the old rotted wood that seems like it has been in a neglected vault, add a sense of gloom and darkness, which is the overall effect on the setting the Poe tries to impose on the reader. .
The last aspect of Poe's "Unity of Effect- is that all details of a poem or short story must be closely related to the whole. This story is about the fall of Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline, but Poe uses the descriptions of the mansion as a symbolic reflection of the Ushers. This is how Poe is able to relate the details of the house to the whole of the story about Ushers. The reader discovers a little about the prosperous past of the Ushers and the House Of Usher in the song, "The Haunted Palace- that Roderick plays for the Poe. He describes the house as a "fair and stately place with banners yellow, glorious, golden on its roof did float and glow in state his glory well befitting, the ruler of the realm was seen."" The house was described as a once beautiful place in time. He then goes on to describe how "Evil things, in robes of sorrow, assailed the monarch's high estate the glory that blushed and bloomed is but a dim remembered story of the old time entombed."" This shows the reader that the line of Ushers has been deteriorating along with the mansion, and the fate of the mansion was tied to that of the fate of the Ushers. The gloomy appearance of the mansion reflected the way the Ushers lived. From the moment Poe walked into the mansion, he described, "The dark draperies that hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered I felt that I breathed in an atmosphere of sorrow.
