One way Poe uses the setting as a kind of foreshadowing is through his first description of the House of Usher. “...crack, which, extending from the roof of the building opposite, descended along the wall in a zigzag, until it was lost in the dark waters of the pond.” In this excerpt from Poe's story, the narrator tells of a tiny crack, which runs from the top of the building to the foundations. At first, many readers recognize that this is nothing more than the result of the enormous age of the house. However, after reading the story and making inferences from the title of the piece, readers may return to the conclusion that later in the story, this crack will lead to the indefinite fall of the House of Usher. In this sense, the mention of the crack can be defined as a kind of omen, or a hint of what will happen later in the