, as all the elements and the symbols converge to create a unitary whole. The author draws many possible interconnections between the fall of the house and that of its resident, who is at the same time the last descendant of his ancient family. As in many of Poe's stories, the narrator is also the witness of the fatal destruction that is depicted. A simple analysis of the structure of the story reveals and consummate process of composition. First of all, the tale opens and closes with the image of the house which is described in great detail and in such ominous terms that the image already sets the mood of the story. From the first glimpse of the portentous house, the storyteller feels an unexplainable oppressiveness that he cannot shake off. Significantly, this oppressiveness is instantly weighed from an aesthetic point of view. The result is that any attempt to assuage it by turning it into a poetic experience would be vain. The perplexed onlooker tries to shift his position hoping that the fatal effect of grim facade and the crumbling wa
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