The Tell-tale HeartBy Edgar Allan Poe

Anticipation Guide Part I: Describe 5 things you expect to find

in scary stories.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

Statements Agree Disagree

People who are insane always know that they are insane.

Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things.

If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be caught.

When you’ve done something wrong, it’s agony to wonder if you’ll be caught.

All people share the same fears.

Vocabulary

haunted furious

passion intense

vulture seized

film corpse

triumph foul play

shutters paced

muffled

Vocabulary (page 16)haunted: (verb) come back again and again, often in a scary waypassion: (noun) a very strong or deep feelingvulture: (noun) a bird of preyfilm: (noun) a thin coat of somethingtriumph: (noun) an important successshutters: (noun) wooden window covers that swing open and shut

Vocabulary (continued/page 16)muffled: (adjective) less loud, as if covered up

furious: (adjective) very angry

intense: (adjective) very strong

seized: (verb) grabbed suddenly

corpse: (noun) a dead body

foul play: (noun) dishonest behavior, murder

paced: (verb) walked back and forth again and

again

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

Questions to think about while reading the story:

1. How would you describe the character telling the story?

2. How does the first sentence create suspense?

3. Why do you believe he mentions TIME so much, and why he changes the pace from slow to fast?

Questions continued . . .

4. What are some of the evil words that he uses, and what effect do these words have on you, the reader?

5. How does he make the “evil eye” sound disgusting? (What words does he use?)

Questions continued . . .

6. Why does Poe have the murderer tell the story?

Point of ViewThis 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 point of view. The narrator in this story is unreliable because we know from the beginning that he is insane.