Edgar Allan Poe is one of America’s greatest storytellers. He wrote stories of imagination and mystery and believed that a reader should be able to read a short story in one sitting. His opening paragraph from one of his most famous short stories, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, is a wonderful example of his ability to hook his readers.
1. What is a ‘tell-tale’? Is it a positive or negative thing?
2. Examine this cover design for ‘The Tell- Tale Heart’ and then read the opening two paragraphs. Discuss with a classmate what you think this story will be about.
What I will learn:
to explore the creation of character
‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
powerful and sharp
TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
Listen!
It is impossible to say how fi rst the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a fi lm over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually – I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.