Literary Techniques Used In Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart

Essay on Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe used literary devices to make a dark scary tone in the story Tell-Tale Heart. He used a combination of time of day, mood and atmosphere, and population. Poe used time of day when he says “and every night about midnight” (538:2). The narrator used midnight for the reader to know it is dark and at the same time he's trying to get you scared. He states “his room was as black pitch with the thick darkness” (538:5). This makes the story spine-chilling and it makes you automatically think of what could be in the dark room. Poe tries to make the story as scary as possible for the reader to enjoy. Another hint of knowing it is completely dark is when it says “for the shutters were closed fastened through fear of robbers”(538:6). The old man felt scared and violated being looked at in the middle of the night and not knowing who or what could it be. He felt like this when the narrator stated “the old man

“The sound would be heard by a neighbor” (540:2). The sound was heard by a neighbor or two. “A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night”(541:3). This means that the story takes place in a highly or populated area, like a town. One of the neighbors called the police to investigate the house because they had heard a shriek coming from there. The police is another sign that the population is high where the story takes place “there entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police”(541:3). In the story tell tale heart Poe tries to make the story super scary using literary devices and adding a dark tone. He makes the time of day at midnight. That is most of the scary detail of all of it. Many times he describes the night time tone of the story in different scenarios. He brings all the characters to life describing their feelings. In this story there was a big climax when the old man