Early American Literature 2

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Early American Literature

Road Map

• Finish: Edgar Allan Poe - The Black Cat
• Start: Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-Tale Heart

Lesson goals

At the end of this lesson you can

• give a brief description of the context of Edgar Allan Poe's life 
• outline the major events of his life
  
• describe the characteristics of a short story
• summarise the plot line of The Black Cat
• describe at least two characteristics of the story
• analyse their effect on the reader
• give your well-founded opinion of the work

Literary aspects

Short story:

'a relatively short work of prose fiction, approx. 500 to 10,000 words, that, according to Edgar Allan Poe, can be read in a single sitting of two hours or less'. 

The short story works to create a single effect. 

(The Norton Introduction to Literature, 2013)

The Tell-Tale Heart

• Listen to the following reading of the story  by Matthew Gray Gubler
• Highlight or underline words you do not know
• Try and form an opinion on the narrator
• See if you can divine the structure of the text

Literary aspects

Structure

1. Introduction 

2. Rising action - often there is some kind of conflict

3. Climax 

4. Falling action - attempts are made to work things out

5. Denouement  

Literary aspects

So, what about the narrator?

Literary aspects

Structure

1. Introduction: The narrator introduces himself, a nervous man with a very acute sense of hearing who has killed his housemate because he could not stand his vulture-like eye.

2. Rising action: for seven nights in a row, the narrator enters the old man’s bedroom at around midnight with the intention of killing him only he doesn’t because he is asleep

Literary aspects

3. Climax: On the 8th night, the old man wakes up because the narrator’s ‘thumb slipped upon the tin fastening’ of his lantern. The narrator kills the old man and hides his body parts.

4. Falling action: The police come to investigate after a neighbour had informed them they had heard a shriek.

5. Denouement : The narrator cracks and ‘admits the dead’.

Homework

Finish the assignments belonging to 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

The Tell-Tale Heart Studyguide

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tell-tale-heart

Tests Alquin & GRO 

Alquin:  16 December 2021, Keywords of the three texts (see SOM and word's list)