The TELL- TALE HEART - Edgar Allan Poe (published 1843)
Comment [A1]: Tone : Anxious, Nervous, Insanily
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! --would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously --oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
Comment [j2]: Showi ng that he’s rej ecti ng the ...
Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there?" I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
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Comment [A3]: Anaphora – the first or second ... Comment [j4]: Anaphora/repetition Comment [j5]: Consonance: the w sound
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Comment [A6]: Irony – Comment [A7]: Expl etive – usi ng commas not in ... Comment [j8]: expl etive Comment [A9]: Oxymoron Comment [j10]: symbolism Comment [A11]: Antithesis – di fferent or
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Comment [A12]: Repetition Comment [A13]: Expl etive – usi ng commas not... Comment [A14]: Suspense – giving the reader’s... Comment [j15]: imagery Comment [A16]: Rhet ori cal Question Comment [A17]: Repetition Comment [A18]: Onomat opi a – it gives the
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Comment [j19]: Expl etive
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Comment [A20]: Symbolism – Evil, Cruel,
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Comment [A21]: Expl etive – which is not
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Comment [A22]: Ambiguous – doesn’t show a ... Comment [j23]: moti f Comment [A24]: Denotati on Comment [A25]: Polysyndent on – usi ng “ and” ... Comment [A26]: Expl etive – it is not necessary. Comment [A27]: Asyndeton – using commas to... Comment [A28]: Syntax – who’s hand mine? Comment [A29]: Consonance – the “ t” gives a ... Comment [A30]: Consonance - the”th” words ... Comment [A31]: Anamat opea – Laughing sound Comment [A32]: Imagery and Simile Comment [A33]: Imagery – can we feel darkness? Comment [A34]: Irony Comment [A35]: Omnision Point of Vi ew Comment [A36]: Repetition Comment [A37]: Polysyndent on – usi ng the
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Comment [j38]: pol ysyndeton Comment [A39]: Synecdoche – di d not move a ... Comment [j40R39]: Hyperbole
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Comment [A41]: Expl etive - not necessary to be ... Comment [A42]: Asyndent on – using commas to ...
The CASK of AMONTILLADO - Edgar Allan Poe (published 1846) "It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls." He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication. "Nitre?" he asked, at length. "Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?" "Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!" My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. "It is nothing," he said, at last. "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi -" "Enough, " he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." "True --true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily --but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps. Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould. "Drink," I said, presenting him the wine. He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled. "I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us." "And I to your long life." He again took my arm, and we proceeded. "These vaults," he said, "are extensive." "The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family." "I forget your arms." "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" "Nemo me impune lacessit." "Good!" he said. The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow. "The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --"
Comment [A43]: Connotation Comment [A44]: Imagery Comment [j45]: Metaphor Comment [A46]: Connotation, setting Comment [j47]: Theme: drunkenness Comment [j48]: Repetition Comment [A49]: Repetition, Onomat opei a :
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Comment [A50]: Hyperbolic: “ impossibl e” to ... Comment [A51]: Appeal to Logi c: it’s true
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Comment [A52]: Euphony Comment [A53]: Asyndeton: using commas to ... Comment [j54]: Connotation: missed Comment [A55]: Assonance: “ I” and consonance: ... Comment [A56]: Transition Words Comment [A57]: Personi fi cation,
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Comment [j58]: hubris Comment [A59]: Sarcasm and Foreshadow & ... Comment [j60]: Trans wds Comment [A61]: Metonomy Comment [A62]: Personi fi cation: Medoc cannot... Comment [j63]: Consonance: the D sounds Comment [A64]: Cacophony Comment [A65]: Personi fi cation: no neck is for... Comment [A66]: Assonance: the word “ o” Comment [j67]: Int ernal rhyme: the ows Comment [A68]: Imagery Comment [A69]: Irony Comment [A70]: Sarcasm Comment [A71]: Motif Comment [A72]: Ampli fication Comment [A73]: Denotati on: the symbol of the ... Comment [A74]: Bibliomancy represents the
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Comment [j75]: Connotation: of GOLD Comment [j76]: Invert ed synt ax Comment [j77]: Invert ed synt ax, animal moti f, ... Comment [A78]: Illusion, imagery and
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Comment [A79]: Personi fi cation Comment [j80]: Setting
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Comment [A81]: Simile: “like” Comment [j82]: setting Comment [j83]: denot ation Comment [A84]: Colliqual: the ere= before.
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Comment [A85]: Expl etive Comment [A86]: Simile
The PIT and the PENDULUM - Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
Comment [j87]: Delayed sentence Comment [A88]: Diction: Use of the words
Upon my recovery, too, I felt very -- oh, inexpressibly sick and weak, as if through long inanition. Even amid the agonies of that period, the human nature craved food. With painful effort I outstretched my left arm as far as my bonds permitted, and took possession of the small remnant which had been spared me by the rats. As I put a portion of it within my lips, there rushed to my mind a half formed thought of joy -- of hope. Yet what business had I with hope? It was, as I say, a half formed thought -- man has many such which are never completed. I felt that it was of joy -- of hope; but felt also that it had perished in its formation. In vain I struggled to perfect -- to regain it. Long suffering had nearly annihilated all my ordinary powers of mind. I was an imbecile -- an idiot.
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Comment [A89]: Repetition Comment [A90]: Rhet ori cal Question Comment [A91]: Expl etive: showi ng not
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Comment [A92]: Repetition Comment [A93]: Antithesis Comment [A94]: anthropomorphism Comment [j95]: ampli fication Comment [j96]: denot ation Comment [A97]: Imagery: felt feel, touch, sense.
The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to my length. I saw that the crescent was designed to cross the region of the heart. It would fray the serge of my robe -- it would return and repeat its operations -- again -- and again. Notwithstanding terrifically wide sweep (some thirty feet or more) and the hissing vigor of its descent, sufficient to sunder these very walls of iron, still the fraying of my robe would be all that, for several minutes, it would accomplish. And at this thought I paused. I dared not go farther than this reflection. I dwelt upon it with a pertinacity of attention -- as if, in so dwelling, I could arrest here the descent of the steel. I forced myself to ponder upon the sound of the crescent as it should pass across the garment -- upon the peculiar thrilling sensation which the friction of cloth produces on the nerves. I pondered upon all this frivolity until my teeth were on edge.
Comment [A98]: Repetition Comment [j99]: Trans wds Comment [A100]: Onomat opoeia Comment [A101]: anthro Comment [A102]: Consonance: “ d”, “s”, “t”, “s” Comment [j103]: Consonance: s Comment [j104]: hyperbaton Comment [A105]: Asyndeton Comment [A106]: Expl etive Comment [j107]: connotation
Down -- steadily down it crept. I took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward with its lateral velocity. To the right -- to the left -- far and wide -- with the shriek of a damned spirit; to my heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed and howled as the one or the other idea grew predominant. Down -- certainly, relentlessly down! It vibrated within three inches of my bosom! I struggled violently, furiously, to free my left arm. This was free only from the elbow to the hand. I could reach the latter, from the platter beside me, to my mouth, with great effort, but no farther. Could I have broken the fastenings above the elbow, I would have seized and attempted to arrest the pendulum. I might as well have attempted to arrest an avalanche!
Comment [A108]: Diction: crescent
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Comment [j109]: contradi ction Comment [A110]: Imagery: senses Comment [A111]: Ambiguous: what sensation? Comment [j112]: hyperbole Comment [A113]: Synecdoche: teet h represents ... Comment [A114]: Anaphora with the ot her
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Comment [A115]: Suspense Comment [j116]: oxymoron Comment [j117]: anaphora
Down -- still unceasingly -- still inevitably down! I gasped and struggled at each vibration. I shrunk convulsively at its every sweep. My eyes followed its outward or upward whirls with the eagerness of the most unmeaning despair; they closed themselves spasmodically at the descent, although death would have been a relief, oh! how unspeakable!
Comment [j118]: personi fication Comment [A119]: Anal ogy Comment [A120]: Antithesis Comment [j121]: ampli fication Comment [j122]: consonance: F sounds Comment [j123]: internal rhym Comment [A124]: Hyperbole Comment [A125]: Anal ogy Comment [A126]: Consonance: the “W” Comment [A127]: Contradi ction Comment [A128]: Diction Comment [A129]: Irony: Just let the charact er ...
