Question

What is the primary impact of the excerpt?

It creates an anxious feeling.
It dramatizes an exhausted feeling.
It establishes a neutral feeling.
It conveys a content feeling.

I looked upon the scene before me-upon the mere house, and the simple landscape
features of the domain-upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eyelike windows-upon
a few rank sedges-and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees-with an utter
depression of soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly
than to the afterdream of the reveler upon opium-the bitter lapse into everyday
life-the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a
sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of
the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it-I paused to
think-what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of
Usher?

Answer 1

It creates an anxious feeling.First, because of the meaning of the word anxiety;distress or uneaiyness caused by fear.Fear is observed when the narrator speaks of feelings such as .."iciness, sinking and sickening of the heart.."Apart from that ,the narrator expresses he is anxious by using the phrase..."so unnerved me.."It is clear that the simple view of the House of Usher brings a sense of overwhelming dread in the narrator."..The features .." he describes with these articulate words connected to decadence and decline cause nothing but a feeling of anxiety.

Answer 2

In questions like this, we want to look for clues in the text that convey a feeling. In this passage there are a lot of words that paint a strong, negative feeling. It is easy to rule out the neutral and content choices. Finally, the language used leads us towards the "anxious feeling" response. Language like "utter depression of soul", "unnerved me", a sinking, a sickening of the heart" all refer to an internal discomfort, not a physical tiredness.