Casey Lind
¾
11-28-10
Response to Literature Essay
“Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this?” During the entire story of Tell-Tale Heart, the crazy main character is trying to prove to the reader that he isn’t mad. Edgar Allan Poe is an amazing author who writes stories that portray dark, descriptive, and devious plots. Tell-Tale Heart is a fantastic example of his writing. It’s a story about an insane man who is being driven mad by a vulture eye. He kills the man with the eye but confesses his crime due to the result of his craziness. Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, has descriptive imagery, a suspenseful climax, and expressive similes.
The most important literary device is imagery. The descriptive imagery in Tell-Tale Heart places you in the author's eyes and allows you to see all of the scene's Poe's trying to describe. "A very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot out from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye." (Poe 629) It is obvious from this descriptive sentence that Poe effectively uses imagery. It really allows people to see exactly what the madman was doing at that specific moment. "His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness." (Poe 626) This simile shows incredible imagery. This sentence shows Poe's amazing skills on using imagery. Both of these statements show very eloquent imagery.
Another literary term that is well written in Tell-Tale Heart is the climax. The climax that Poe describes is written with extreme detail and explains the situation immensely well. "With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room." (Poe 628) These amazing words describe exactly what the climax was. You can easily conceptualize what was happening by how he described it. "For many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound." (Poe 628) The old man's heart was slowly dying as a result of when the crazy character compressed him with the mattress. Throughout the entire story, the main character was planning to kill the old man. He had succeeded in murdering the old man. The climax is a main focal point in this cliff-hanging story, but Poe also writes similes very well.
A fantastic term that Poe used in this story is his incredible use of similes. "A low, dull, quick sound such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton." (Poe 628) This simile that Poe used in this amazing story described exactly how the heart would have sounded. These wonderful well-written words give the reader an idea of what a watch does make when in cotton. "It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates a soldier into courage." (Poe 628) These words clarified that the crazy man could hear the old man's heart beating which stirred the anger deep within him. Therefore the sound of the old man’s heart encouraged the murder. Poe used a few more similes in his story but those were the two that really stood out.
The story, Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, was a fantastic story. It was well-described and had an incredible use of imagery. Poe is an amazing author who can write an intriguing climax and fabulous similes in one story. This story about a crazy man, an evil eye, and an old man was a very well described story. His writing sets a great example of imagery that people should follow and use in their writing.
¾
11-28-10
Response to Literature Essay
“Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this?” During the entire story of Tell-Tale Heart, the crazy main character is trying to prove to the reader that he isn’t mad. Edgar Allan Poe is an amazing author who writes stories that portray dark, descriptive, and devious plots. Tell-Tale Heart is a fantastic example of his writing. It’s a story about an insane man who is being driven mad by a vulture eye. He kills the man with the eye but confesses his crime due to the result of his craziness. Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, has descriptive imagery, a suspenseful climax, and expressive similes.
The most important literary device is imagery. The descriptive imagery in Tell-Tale Heart places you in the author's eyes and allows you to see all of the scene's Poe's trying to describe. "A very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot out from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye." (Poe 629) It is obvious from this descriptive sentence that Poe effectively uses imagery. It really allows people to see exactly what the madman was doing at that specific moment. "His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness." (Poe 626) This simile shows incredible imagery. This sentence shows Poe's amazing skills on using imagery. Both of these statements show very eloquent imagery.
Another literary term that is well written in Tell-Tale Heart is the climax. The climax that Poe describes is written with extreme detail and explains the situation immensely well. "With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room." (Poe 628) These amazing words describe exactly what the climax was. You can easily conceptualize what was happening by how he described it. "For many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound." (Poe 628) The old man's heart was slowly dying as a result of when the crazy character compressed him with the mattress. Throughout the entire story, the main character was planning to kill the old man. He had succeeded in murdering the old man. The climax is a main focal point in this cliff-hanging story, but Poe also writes similes very well.
A fantastic term that Poe used in this story is his incredible use of similes. "A low, dull, quick sound such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton." (Poe 628) This simile that Poe used in this amazing story described exactly how the heart would have sounded. These wonderful well-written words give the reader an idea of what a watch does make when in cotton. "It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates a soldier into courage." (Poe 628) These words clarified that the crazy man could hear the old man's heart beating which stirred the anger deep within him. Therefore the sound of the old man’s heart encouraged the murder. Poe used a few more similes in his story but those were the two that really stood out.
The story, Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, was a fantastic story. It was well-described and had an incredible use of imagery. Poe is an amazing author who can write an intriguing climax and fabulous similes in one story. This story about a crazy man, an evil eye, and an old man was a very well described story. His writing sets a great example of imagery that people should follow and use in their writing.
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