Author profile: Edgard Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809 and totally abandoned when he was two and a half years old. He was raised by the John Allan family of Richmond. Poe received a respectable primary education but he left University because Allan refused to help him. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER Setting of the story: The story begins on one dull, dark, and soundless day in autumn, in an isolated house near to a lake. The year and the place where the facts develop are not described.