Poe uses the setting as a type of foreshadowing 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 sullen waters of the tarn." In this excerpt from Poe's short story, the narrator says that a tiny crack extends from the top of the mansion to its foundation. At first, many readers recognize that this is nothing more than a result of the immense age of the house. Yet, after reading the story and drawing conclusions from the title of the article, readers may come back to the conclusion that later in the story, this fissure will lead to the indefinite fall of House Usher. In this sense, the mention of the fissure can be defined as a kind of foreshadowing, or an allusion to what will happen later in the world.