narrator, who remains nameless throughout the story, immediately says that he is filled with "a sense of insufferable gloom. (Poe 350)" This is Poe's way of foreshadowing the dark, dreary conditions he is going to be displaying for the reader during the story. Poe emphasizes the tarn around the mansion several times in the opening paragraphs. The narrator compares the view of the house in the pool of tarn to "the after-dream of the reveller upon opium. (Poe 350)" He uses all his logic and reason to try and view everything he sees in a rational manner, yet upon looking over the house and its surroundings, he has a heightened sense of superstition. He goes on to say that, "about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity. (Baym)"The narrator, upon entering the house, sees a typically furnished 19th century dwelling. However, he becomes confused as to why familiar objects such as the tapestries on the wall and the tall archways make him feel even more superstitious. He even describes the suits of armor on the walls as having a ghost- or phantom-like quality. The narrator sees this as the cause of the mental illness that Roderick told him about in the letter that he received summoning him there. The room also has books and musical instruments scattered all over it. These, however, fail to "give any vitality to the scene. (Poe 353)"When the narrator first meets his host, Usher greets him very warmly, and the narrator sits with Usher silently for some time. While he sits there, he cannot believe hwo much he has been changed since they were childhood friends. Usher is described as "cadaverous of complexion, (Poe 354)" and has very thin and pallid lips, a nose of "a delicate Hebrew model, (Poe 354)" a finely molded chin, and very fine and thin hair that appears to not have been cut in ages. It has often been noted that Roderick Usher's features closely resemble those of...
