By the utter simplicity, by the nakedness of his designs, he arrested and overawed attention. If ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher. For me at least – in the circumstances then surrounding me – there arose out of the pure abstractions which the hypochondriac contrived to throw upon his canvas, an intensity of intolerable awe, no shadow of which felt I ever yet in the contemplation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete reveries of Fuseli.

One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend (один из фантасмагоричных замыслов моего друга), partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction (придерживающийся не столь строго духа абстракции; to partake of – отведать; иметь примесь чего-либо, отдавать /чем-либо/), may be shadowed forth, although feebly, in words (может быть изложен, хоть и приблизительно, словами; to shadow – затенять; туманно излагать от shadow – тень; forth – вперед). A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel (маленькая картина представляла внутренность огромно = очень длинного и прямоугольного подвала или туннеля), with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device (с низкими стенами = сводами, гладкий, белый и без разрыва или узора; device – прибор; архитектурный термин: узор).

One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend, partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device.

Certain accessory points of the design served well to convey the idea (некоторые второстепенные моменты: «точки» рисунка указывали на то, что: «служили хорошо, чтобы передать мысль») that this excavation lay at an exceeding depth below the surface of the earth (что это подземелье лежало на чрезвычайной глубине под поверхностью земли; excavation – копание, рытье; яма, котлован). No outlet was observed in any portion of its vast extent (никакого выхода не наблюдалось в какой-либо части его огромной протяженности; to observe – наблюдать), and no torch, or other artificial source of light was discernible (и никакой факел или же другой искусственный источник света не был различим); yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout (но все же потоп сильных лучей прокатывался по всему /помещению/), and bathed the whole in a ghastly and inappropriate splendour (и омывал целое = все жутковатым и неуместным великолепием).

Certain accessory points of the design served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at an exceeding depth below the surface of the earth. No outlet was observed in any portion of its vast extent, and no torch, or other artificial source of light was discernible; yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout, and bathed the whole in a ghastly and inappropriate splendour.

I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve (я только что говорил о том болезненном состоянии слухового нерва) which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer (которое делало всю музыку непереносимой для страдальца), with the exception of certain effects of stringed instruments (за исключением некоторых эффектов = звуков струнных инструментов). It was, perhaps, the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar (возможно, именно те узкие границы, в которые он себя заключал, /играя/ на гитаре; it was… that – это было… что = именно), which gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his performances (давали рождение, в большой мере, фантастическому характеру его игры; performance – исполнение).

I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the exception of certain effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps, the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar, which gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his performances.

But the fervid facility of his impromptus could not be so accounted for (но пламенная легкость его экспромтов не могла быть так объяснена; to account for – объяснять). They must have been, and were (они должны были быть и были), in the notes, as well as in the words of his wild fantasias (в нотах, как и в словах его безудержных фантазий) (for he not unfrequently accompanied himself with rhymed verbal improvisations) (ибо он нередко: «не нечасто» аккомпанировал себе рифмованными словесными импровизациями), the result of that intense mental collectedness and concentration (результатом той интенсивной умственной собранности и концентрации) to which I have previously alluded as observable only in particular moments of the highest artificial excitement (о которых я ранее вскользь упоминал как о наблюдаемых только в некоторые моменты высочайшего искусственного = экзальтированного возбуждения).

But the fervid facility of his impromptus could not be so accounted for. They must have been, and were, in the notes, as well as in the words of his wild fantasias (for he not unfrequently accompanied himself with rhymed verbal improvisations), the result of that intense mental collectedness and concentration to which I have previously alluded as observable only in particular moments of the highest artificial excitement.

The words of one of these rhapsodies I have easily remembered (слова одной из этих рапсодий я легко запомнил). I was, perhaps, the more forcibly impressed with it, as he gave it (я был, возможно, тем более сильно впечатлен ею, когда он исполнил ее: «дал»), because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning (потому что в скрытом: «нижнем» или мистическом течении его значения), I fancied that I perceived, and for the first time (мне почудилось, что я увидел, к тому же в первый раз; to fancy – воображать; to perceive – воспринимать), a full consciousness on the part of Usher, of the tottering of his lofty reason upon his throne (полное осознание Ашером: «со стороны Ашера» колебаний его высокого рассудка на своем троне; part – часть; зд.: сторона). The verses, which were entitled “The Haunted Palace,” ran very nearly, if not accurately, thus (стихи, которые были названы «Дворец с привидениями», бежали = звучали почти, если и не точно, так; to run – бежать; гласить, звучать; nearly – почти):

The words of one of these rhapsodies I have easily remembered. I was, perhaps, the more forcibly impressed with it, as he gave it, because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning, I fancied that I perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness on the part of Usher, of the tottering of his lofty reason upon his throne. The verses, which were entitled “The Haunted Palace,” ran very nearly, if not accurately, thus: