Choir of the Church of Mayence."—"Mad Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning: no book with this title is known, and the title was undoubtedly coined by Poe and the quotations invented by him to fit the context.
Questions. 1. What effect does Poe evidently seek to produce in this story? 2. Show whether the parts are skillfully related to one another and to the whole. 3. In what respects is the story characteristic of the South? 4. Can the description of USher be taken as self-portraiture on Poe's part?
These selections are taken from "Swallow Barn, or a Sojourn in the Old Dominion," published in 1832. The author's design was to present sketches descriptive of country life in Virginia, in a series of letters supposed to be written by Mark Littleton to a friend in New York, giving his impressions of a Virginia home which he is visiting. So desuLtory is the book in its manner that it can hardly be called a novel. Its best description is in the words of the preface, "a series of detached sketches linked together by the hooks and eyes of a traveler's notes … and may be described as variously and interchangeably partaking of the complexion of a book of travel, a diary, a collection of letters, a drama, and a history." Nevertheless, the author has succeeded in presenting a full picture of life in the old homesteads on the James River.
Selections from "Swallow Barn"
Swallow Barn, an old Virginia Estate (Page 50)
chevaux-de-frise: a contrivance consisting of pieces of timber with spikes of iron used to defend a passage.
The Mistress of Swallow Barn (Page 57)
tertian: an intermittent fever which returns every three days.
Traces of the Feudal System (Page 59)
rod of Aaron: the wonder-working rod used by Moses and Aaron. See Bible, Book of Exodus.—Mr. Chub: a parson who has charge of the school on the Meriwether estate.—Mr. Burke: the celebrated English orator and statesman of the eighteenth century.—Rip: the thirteen-year-old son of the Meriwethers.
