The Tell-tale Heart

1. The Tell-tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

2. Anticipation Guide • Part I: Describe 5 things you expect to find in scary stories. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

3. Part II. Read the following statements and decide whether you agree or disagree.

4. Vocabulary acute audacity derision foresight mockery premises profound raved refrained sagacity stifled unperceived vehemently vex waned

5. Vocabulary (pg 1) acute: [adj] sharp or keen (sense of hearing) audacity: [n] presumption; bold courage derision: [n] contempt or ridicule foresight: [n] a looking forward to future or what will happen mockery: [n] a person or thing receiving or deserving ridicule

6. Vocabulary (pg 2) premises: [n] a piece of real estate; house or building and its land profound: [adj] marked by intellectual depth raved: [v] to talk wildly with excessive enthusiasm refrained: [v] held back; kept from doing sagacity: [n] keen perception or intelligence; sound judgement

7. Vocabulary (pg 3) stifled: [v] to suppress or hold back unperceived: [v] not seen or understood vehemently: [adv] acting with great force; violently or forcefully vex: [v] to disturb or annoy; to terrify waned: [v] to become less intense (fading)

8. Edgar Allan Poe • Virtually created the detective story and perfected the psychological thriller • Ran up gambling debt and could not finish school – went into the army instead (engagement broke off) • Wrote short stories and poetry too

9. Literary Terms • characterization: the author’s expression of the character’s personality (actions, thoughts, etc.) • conflict: the struggle (character against self; against society; against nature; against God) • dialogue: vocal exchange between characters

10. Literary Terms (pg 2) • imagery: the collection of words that evoke atmosphere, mood, and tension • point of view: the view from which the author presents the action • 3rd person-ominscient = an all-knowing author • 3rd person- limited = limited to the views of 1 character • 1st person = the voice & thoughts of one character

11. Literary Terms (pg 3) • symbol: something which is itself yet also stands for or means something else • tone: suggests an attitude toward the subject which is communicated by the words the author chooses (ie. Playful, somber, serious, casual, formal, ironic, etc.)

12. Questions: How he keeps thereaders suspense 1. Describe the character telling the story. 2. How does the first sentence create suspense? 3. Find and write a sentence for TIME going slowly and one for TIME going fast. 4. Why do you believe he mentions TIME so much, and why he changes the pace from slow to fast?

13. Questions continued . . . 5. Write down one example of repetition of words from the story (ie. “Very, very slowly.) 6. List some of the evil words that he uses: what effect do these words have on you, the reader? 7. How does he make the “evil eye” sound disgusting? (What words does he use?)

14. Questions continued . . . 8. How does he make the death of the man sound disgusting? 9. The story is written in 1st person narrative by the main character. List a quotation where the main character directly refers to the reader, you. Why does he do this?

15. Questions continued . . . 10. Why does Poe have the murderer tell the story? 11. In your own words, explain why the story gripped your imagination.

16. Writing Assignment: Point of View This story is told in first-person point of view. The first-person narrator is a wonderful way to tell a story because it makes the story seem more believable, and the reader really gets to know the character. However, the story s limited to that person’s perception. The narrator in this story is unreliable because we know from the beginning that he is insane. Retell the story from the point of view of another character: the old man, one of the officers, or the next door neighbor.