I just finished binge-watching Netflix’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” ostensibly about Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name, with a modern twist.  People familiar with Poe’s works will see that much of his work beyond “The Fall of the House of Usher” is woven into this eight-episode “season.”

I was first introduced to Poe in college, and I confess that I haven’t read him since. I read his short stories, including “The Gold-Bug,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “Ligeia,” and of course “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and his poems, “The Raven, “Anabel Lee,” “The City in the Sea,” and “Lenore.”  In one way or another, elements of these stories and poems by Poe find their way into the episodes, sometimes as characters, such as Anabel Lee, Lenore, Griswold, Tamerlane, and Auguste Duphin.

The language in Netflix’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” is by turns vulgar and poetic.  Verna, a principal but “dark” character throughout the stories, offers the following to one of the other characters: “Language in its highest expression is musical.”  The music throughout the series ranges from classical to disco.  But what ties the story together, what tells the story, is its poetry.  Verna says, “What’s a poem, after all, if not a safe space for a difficult truth.”  (Poets should love that line!)  Poe wrote about difficult truths.

Poe was also a cryptographer.  I won’t give it away, but with a little detective work, there’s something for the viewer to decipher.

Finally, if you haven’t read “The Fall of the House of Usher,” you can still watch and enjoy the Netflix “series.”  However, if you have read a little Poe, beginning with the title story, as well as the poems mentioned herein, you will better appreciate the story and the genius of Poe.