Corresponding to the "fall" that is a central theme of the story and that makes its first appearance in the title, Poe has chosen autumn, "the time of the fall of the leaf," 2 as the temporal setting for his story - a season that is traditionally and for obvious reasons connected with decay. The story's allegorical leitmotif of transitoriness is supported by the temporal and spatial setting, both of which are introduced at the very beginning of the story. On an allegoric level this fissure corresponds to Usher’s mental illness the final collapse of the whole building, brought about by this “barely perceptible fissure” (277) corresponds to Usher’s eventual death - it impressively underlines the fact that with his death Usher's lineage, the “house of Usher,” is extinct. On quite an early stage the mansion turns out to be not that stable as it should be: the narrator perceives a “fissure” 1 in the building. The gap between both terms is vast: something as solid as a house is not expected to "fall." In the end, however, it does - the story is therefore to be read as an allegory of transitoriness. "Fall," in contrast, is clearly an absolutely negative term connected with decay, etc. It implies stability, age, tradition a house is something long-lasting that gives shelter to its inhabitant. The terms "house" and "fall" are contrasted there: "house" in either sense is a term with - at least at first sight - entirely positive connotations. We are told already in the title that both are threatened by imminent destruction. We could then paraphrase the title as "The Tumbling Down of Usher's Mansion." As the term “house” can refer to both the house as well as its inhabitant, this ambiguity is a first hint to the allegorical relation between both. On the other hand, however, "house" could simply mean Usher's estate. The title would then mean "The Decline of the Lineage of Usher" - which is probably how most readers would interpret it straight away. Its equivocal quality is due to the term "house." On the one hand we could read "house" as a metonymy denoting Usher's family. In the case of E.A.Poe's story "The Fall of the House of Usher" this is already indicated by the lexical ambiguity of the title. In an allegoric narrative the action and setting have by definition a second meaning next to the superficial, literal sense. On the use of allegory and the narrative function of the name "Usher" in E.A.Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" 1.) Discuss the use of allegory in E.A.Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher."
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