In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, the character Roderick Usher is the last male member of the Usher family. The Usher family has an almost impeccable direct lineage, as noted in paragraph 3 of the story. Roderick has only one living relative, his sister Madeline. This means that the Usher family is in danger of disappearing as neither Roderick nor his sister have children. There is therefore a possibility of incest between Roderick and Madeline. However, this could cause many difficulties and problems for potential children and possibly on the conscience of Roderick and Madeline. In the story, Roderick sings a poem called "The Haunted Palace" to the narrator of the story. As Roderick Usher has doubts about the safety of his family lineage, he uses the poem as a way to express these emotions without explicitly expressing them. The organization of the stanzas in “The Haunted Palace” says a lot about the overall meaning of the poem. The poem is literally about a palace in a beautiful valley. The palace is inhabited by spirits and a ruler of the valley. The valley is a happy place until it is attacked by evil spirits and their ruler dies. The attack of the spirits leaves the palace in a dark and gloomy place. But this literal translation of the poem does not show its metaphorical meaning. A metaphor for the poem can be found through the organization of the poem as a whole. Stanza I describes the setting of the poem: “In the greenest of our valleys” (1.1). He also mentions the palace which is located in the valley. Stanza II describes the palace in more detail, calling it a beautiful place. Stanza III gives information about the tenants of the palace; the spirits live inside with "the ru...... middle of paper...... oderick calls the spirits good and says they sing: "The spirit and wisdom of their king ". (4.8). “The ruler of the kingdom” (3.8) that the spirits sing about could represent the house of Usher, but not the literal house of Usher, but rather they are singing about the Usher family. We know that this is a name often given to both the house and the family: "...the 'House of Usher' - a name which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasants who used, both family and family. manor." (Poe par.3) Therefore, Roderick could be saying all of this because he is proud of his family and feels that he is letting down the "House of Usher" by not continuing the direct lineage that his family has continued for so many years So when the king dies in the poem (5.3-4), Roderick might think that his family line is already dead...