"And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury of the dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the breaking up of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass from out of the way before him, and approached valorously over the silver pavement of the castle to where the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but fell down at his feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound."

 No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than --as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of
 silver, became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous, yet apparently muffled reverberation. Completely unnerved, Ileaped to my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed. I rushed to the chair in which he sat.

His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came astrong shudder over his whole person; asickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in alow, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I at length drank in the hideous import of his words. "Not hear it? --yes, Ihear it, and have heard it. Long --long --long --many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it --yet Idared not --oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! --I dared not --I darednot speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them --many, many days ago --yet I dared not --I dared not speak! And now --to-night --Ethelred --ha! ha! --the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangour of the shield! --say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? MADMAN!" here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul --"MADMAN! I TELLYOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THEDOOR!"

 As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell --the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust --but then without those doors there DID stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher.

There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For amoment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, andin her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.

 From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and Iturned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-red moon which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure of which I have before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in azig-zag direction, to the base. While Igazed, this fissure rapidly widened --there came afierce breath of the whirlwind --the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight --my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder --there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters --and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the "HOUSE OF USHER."

Science Ch 2 Quizlet

The Tell-Tale Heart Video

Watch the video and plan a paper about one of these ideas:

* Explain how the video SHOWS the character change, and TELLS us what kind of person the narrator is.

*Describe HOW the video creates a creepy MOOD.

The RAVEN (full text)

http://poestories.com/read/raven

October Skills Iowa

Here is the link.  Login with your information.
Your code is 9878637.

If your test doesn't start, click the bar under the address and allow pop-ups.

Make sure to read all questions first, read choices bottoms-up, and mark the text with post-its if it helps.  Good luck!!!

Context Clues Practice
Click HERE to practice finding meanings using context clues.
Pass one quiz on each level (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced) to earn your reward.
Show Mr. Dennis your score after each test (whether you pass with 80% correct or not!)

September Skills Iowa!
Click HERE to get to the Skills Iowa test website.  Login and use code 9872305 to take the assessment.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog for the Read 180 program at Central Middle School in Waterloo, IA!

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-Mr Dennis