Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

SUSPENSE/MOOD How does the first sentence create suspense? Poe’s word choice: Nervous-dreadfully-and he asks the reader why we think he is “mad” (insane). 2. Poe talks about TIME throughout the story: • Find three quotations to do with TIME going fast in the story. The many dashes and exclamation points suggest the narrator is frantic. (835) As the narrator is seized with anxiety and lunges at the old man. (839) The narrator confesses to the police. (841) • Find two quotations to do with TIME going slowly within the story. The action slows as the narrator is still for a whole hour. (837) He was singularly at ease as the police search the home. (840) 3. Repetition: Poe repeats words a great deal in the story i.e. "Very, very slowly". Write down 2 examples of repetition and explain why Poe repeats words and phrases. There came a low, dull sound, much as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton (838 and 841) Louder, louder, louder (838, 839, 841)

Vocabulary Acute: Sharp and strong or intense Vex: to disturb, annoy, or anger, especially by some small, repeated action Stifled: hold back; smothered Wane: to draw to a close; approach an end Audacity: reckless boldness; daring Singularly: unusually or remarkably; extraordinary Vehemently: Strongly; intensely; passionately Hypocritical: pretending to be what one is not; fake, insincere.

IMAGERY 4. Descriptive Language: Poe describes everything in great detail so that the reader can imagine the story like a film. He uses lots of imagery. • List some of the evil words that he uses: what effect do they have in the story and on the reader? • How does he make the "eye" sound disgusting? • How does he make the death sound disgusting? 5. The story is written in first person narrative by the main character. • List 3 quotations where the main character directly refers to the reader. Why does Poe do this? – To make the narrative convincing. • Why does Poe have the murderer tell the story?

SOUND IMAGERY Descriptive sounds contribute powerfully to the anxious, fearful mood of The Tell Tale Heart. 1. Creaking of the lantern hinge--the narrator is careful to avoid making this sound when he enters the old man’s room. 2. Old man’s groan of mortal terror—he utters this sound when he first hears someone in his room.

3. The sound like a watch ticking under cotton padding—the narrator hears this sound and interprets it as the old man’s heartbeat. 4. The beating of a drum—the narrator perceives the heartbeat as a drum that urges a soldier to action. 5. The dreadful silence of the old house—the eerie, unsettling silence of a house in the darkness of deep night contrasts with the heartbeat that the narrator hears.

6. The victim’s shriek as he is attacked—the old man shrieks as the narrator pounces upon him. 7. The knocking at the door—announcing the arrival of the police, this sound is also suggestive of the old man’s heartbeat. 8. The ringing in the murderer’s ears when he is with the police—marks the reoccurrence of the victim’s heartbeat, which will eventually drive the narrator to make his desperate confession.

Literary Devices Personificaton : Example – “Death in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him and enveloped the victim.” [Here, Death is a person.] Simile : Examples –”So I opened it–you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily–until at length a single dim ray like the thread of the spider shot out from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye. [The simile is the comparsion of the ray to the thread of the spider with the use of the word like.  “It increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” [The simile is the comparison of the heartbeat to a drumbeat.]   “His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness. . . . “[The simile is the comparison of the darkness to pitch.] Alliteration  Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story.  Meanwhile, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased.  Example - “It is the beating of his hideous heart! ” Irony  “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.”