<Li> The narrator describes one of Usher's musical compositions as "a...singular perversion and amplification of the wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber". Poe here refers to a popular piano work of his time--which, though going by the title "Weber's Last Waltz" was actually composed by Carl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798--1859). A manuscript copy of the music was found among Weber's papers upon his death in 1826 and the work was mistakenly attributed to him . </Li> <Li> Usher's painting reminds the narrator of the Swiss - born British painter Henry Fuseli (1741--1825). </Li> <P> Along with "The Tell - Tale Heart", "The Black Cat" and "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Fall of the House of Usher" is considered among Poe's most famous works of prose . </P> <P> This highly unsettling macabre work is recognized as a masterpiece of American Gothic literature . Indeed, as in many of his tales, Poe borrows much from the already developed Gothic tradition . Still, as G.R. Thomson writes in his Introduction to Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe, "the tale has long been hailed as a masterpiece of Gothic horror; it is also a masterpiece of dramatic irony and structural symbolism ." </P>

Edgar allan poe fall of the house of usher sparknotes