Haunted Palace Is a Poem First Published

Haunted Palace is a poem first published by Edgar Allan Poe as a single item but them incorporated into the story The Fall of the House of Usher as a song written by one of the characters, Roderick Usher. It was meant to be symbolic of how the fall of the house of Usher is similar to a person's decline into madness. The poem is an allegory about a king who fears an evil threatening his kingdom but is really about the deterioration of a human mind. The royal house described is symbolic of a person and the deterioration of the kingdom is the slow decay of the human mind.

As the poem progresses, each stanza is symbolic of a different part of the human body. For instance, the first stanza describes the head or mind, the second the hair, the third more of the head, fourth is the mouth and voice, fifth the madness of the person, and finally the effect of that madness. Poe begins the poem with a description of a "fair and stately palace" that is symbolic of a person before they declined into madness. (Poe, stanza I) The physical state of the person is portrayed through the description of the yellow banners, representing the hair of youth and good health. His "two luminous windows," or eyes, see things that a good monarch should see, and his mouth speaks in a logical and even manner. (Poe, stanzas III, IV)

But the madness that invades the person's mind is like an evil thing that "assailed the monarch's high estate." (Poe, stanza V) The person had declined into a state of madness and the once intelligent person has become "a dim remembered story." (Poe, stanza V) Finally, Poe describes the condition of the person after the evil of madness has invaded. The windows of the house, or the symbolic eyes of the person, have become "encrimsoned," or reddish. The person's eyes are tired and bloodshot. The once orderly melodies have become "discordant," symbolizing the mental instability that has invaded the person's mind. Their speech has become erratic and nonsensical, filled with hysterical laughter but never any smiles of happiness.