For the Love of Vocabulary

I'm going to reveal myself as a geek right now, and admit that I LOVE words. Love them. As a teacher, I am willing to spend a small amount of time on proscribed vocab...I once observed a teacher who spent more than half her teaching time on vocabulary, and that's just...icky. Time is better spent increasing vocabulary through reading, imho.

I think I have a somewhat formidable vocabulary, but when I started writing The Fall I was overwhelmed and intimidated by a lot of things, most of which stemmed back to reworking something by Poe. Or course the vocabulary was intimidating.

The following is a vocab list of words and phrases from The Fall of The House of Usher that I wanted to use.

Dull

Dark

Soundless

Clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens (this is circled- meaning I don't think I used it)

Melancholy

Pervaded

Insufferable Gloom

Vacant eye-like windows

rank sedges (not sure I used this either as there was already some confusion on what a tarn was)

white trunks of decaying trees

sinking, sickening of heart

black and lurid tarn

unruffled luster

sullen

ethereal

ghastly and inappropriate splendor (this is the title for the sequel..kidding, kidding, what would it be about? but A Ghastly and Inappropriate Splendor would be an awesome title for...something)

tenebrous

Somewhere someplace there is a tattered internet copy of The Fall of The House of Usher that I carried around for over a year (I think it's in my desk at work) that has lots of other words and phrases highlighted. I really hope I can find that, as it seems like it almost became a part of me and my life. :)