Final answer:
Edgar Allan Poe employs a gothic and darkly romantic writing style in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' using mirror images to enhance themes of desolation, madness, and fatalism.
Step-by-step explanation:
The literary writing style used by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Fall of the House of Usher" is characterized by gothic elements and dark romanticism. Poe masterfully weaves a tale of desolation, madness, and impending doom through detailed descriptions and psychological complexity. This tale is defined by its tone of hopelessness and fatalism, as Poe uses mirror images, or reflections, to intensify themes of decay and the inevitable demise of both the Usher family and the human spirit. The house itself, as well as the tarn that reflects it, becomes symbolic of the characters' internal states, mirroring their deterioration and enhancing the gloomy atmosphere. Even the narrator, initially an outside embodiment of hope and sanity, becomes engulfed in the House of Usher's grim mood. The story's conclusion, mirroring the death of Usher, underscores Poe's belief in the hopelessness of humanity's struggle against its darker aspects.