1. How does Edgar Allan Poe create suspense in his story?
The Tell-Tale Heart
How does Edgar Allan Poe create suspense in his story?

2. Suspense
Suspense is the sense of growing tension, fear, and excitement felt by the reader. When a story is suspenseful, the reader becomes increasingly curious about what will happen next. Writers use different techniques to create suspense in fiction.

3. The Tell-Tale Heart
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose assessment of events cannot be trusted for some reason. Do you think the reader’s ability to trust the narrator increases the suspense in this story? Explain your answer.

4. The Tell-Tale Heart Sentence Frame:
I think the reader’s ability to trust the narrator increases suspense because _______.
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5. The Tell-Tale Heart
What prevents the narrator from killing the old man during the first seven nights? Explain how his inaction contributes to the suspense.

6. The Tell-Tale Heart Sentence Frame:
_______ prevents the narrator from killing the old man during the first seven nights. His inaction contributes to suspense because _______.
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7. The Tell-Tale Heart
Writers can describe a character’s anxiety or fear to increase suspense.
Find an example from the text that reveals the old man’s anxiety and/or fear.
Then find an example of text that shows the narrator’s fear/anxiety.

8. The Tell-Tale Heart
a.) An example from the text that reveals the old man’s anxiety and/or fear is _______. This reveals the old man’s anxiety and/or fear because _____.
b.) An example of text that shows the narrator’s fear/anxiety is ______. This shows the narrator’s fear/anxiety because ______.
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9. The Tell-Tale Heart
Repeating words, phrases, or characters actions can also create suspense.
Find an example of a word or phrase that is repeated and explain how the repetition creates suspense.
Find an example of an action that was repeated and explain how that repetition creates suspense.

10. The Tell-Tale Heart
a) A phrase that’s repeated is ______. This creates suspense because _______.
b) An action that was repeated was _____. This creates suspense because _______.
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11. The Tell-Tale Heart
The narrator uses the metaphor “eye of a vulture” to describe the old man’s eye.
In what way does the author’s repeated image of the “eye of a vulture” help to create suspense?
Find another example of figurative language that increases the tension.

12. The Tell-Tale Heart
a) The author’s repeated image of the “eye of a vulture” helps to create suspense because ______.
b) _______ is an example of figurative language. This increases tension because _______.
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13. The Tell-Tale Heart
Writers often use sensory details to describe dramatic sights, sounds, or feelings. Find two examples of sensory language in the text that contribute to the suspense.

14. The Tell-Tale Heart
An example of sensory language is ______. This contributes to suspense because_____.
Another example of sensory language is ____. This contributes to suspense because ____.
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