Item description

For many high school readers, horror and supernatural fiction are genres that maximize engagement with literature. “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe features elements consistent with both genres: a Gothic mansion, psychological deterioration, heightened emotions, grim imagery, and more. With this bundle of high school resources covering “The Fall of the House of Usher,” English teachers will save valuable time at home without sacrificing rigor in the classroom. Included are the following: a multiple choice, plot-based quiz; a worksheet composed of rigorous close reading analysis questions; the public domain narrative; and answer keys. Materials are delivered in printable Word Document and PDF formats.

By completing the quiz, students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:

• How the narrator comes upon the House of Usher
• The narrator’s descriptions of the House of Usher
• What the narrator means when he refers to “shadowy fancies”
• A characterization of the relationship between the narrator and Roderick
• The content of the letter Roderick wrote the narrator
• What the narrator means when he refers to Roderick’s “reserve [which] had always been excessive and habitual.
• The Ushers’ ancestry
• A description of the narrator as he first explores the House of Usher
• Roderick’s ill appearance
• Madeline’s relationship to Roderick
• Madeline’s unusual medical condition
• Roderick’s ability to play the guitar
• Why Roderick wants to keep Madeline’s corpse in the house
• A realization that Roderick and Madeline were twins
• A strange sight through the window
• Peculiar noises
• Roderick’s terrible fear regarding Madeline
• Roderick’s death
• The narrative’s resolution

By completing the close reading analysis worksheet, students will:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Explore dominant character traits and motivations
• Examine how complex characters think, behave, and interact
• Determine the greater significance of a given detail
• Apply knowledge of various sound and literary devices including alliteration, personification, euphemism, foreshadowing, situational irony, hyperbole, epiphany, juxtaposition, and more
• Articulate the intended effects of various sound devices, literary devices, and figurative expressions
• Analyze Poe’s use of descriptive language to infer the author’s intent
• Conduct brief research on Swiss painter Henry Fuseli to develop greater understanding of Poe’s allusion to him
• Explore the connection between the plot of the short story and the content of the poem titled “The Haunted Palace”
• Examine how the author successfully intensifies suspense in the context of a passage
• Analyze the connotative significance of the narrator’s labeling Roderick a hypochondriac
• Identify details that contribute to a dreamlike or nightmarish atmosphere
• Discern the functions of particular details
• Make logical inferences about the resolution
• Defend claims and ideas with reasoned thinking and relevant textual evidence
• Write ideas with clarity, accuracy, and precision