Tell Tale Heart

1376 Words3 Pages

In “Tell Tale Heart,” Edgar Allen Poe develops the plot and creates a mood through the use of metaphors, symbolism, imagery, and foreshadowing. The unique use of said literary devices enables the story to strongly entice the reader’s interest and spark high levels of curiosity. The vivid mental pieces of art are beautifully painted with metaphors, symbolism, and imagery, the tools mastered by the painter, Edgar Allen Poe.

The initial analysis will be that of the old man’s eye. Mr. Poe uses very descriptive technique to allow the reader to view the eye for themselves, there are no literal pictures within the pages of the story, the pictures are therefore seen mentally, and the description is one way that the author incorporates imagery into this story. The eye of this old man is described as that of a vulture’s, consisting of a blue coloring with a film over it. The narrator’s exact description goes as follows: “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture – a pale blue eye with a film over it” (p. 1, Angus). With the use of this description, imagery has already taken place, and the use of this imagery connects to the symbolism of the eye. Normally if an individual were to possess such an eye, an observer would assume that the one with the ill eye has a medical condition, like a corneal ulcer. The film covering the eye is used symbolically showing the reader that the main character’s (narrator) perspective on things aren’t clear, things seem to be viewed in an obscured fashion. Likewise are things seen by the readers of this story, the wordplay that

manufactures the text of the literary work causes confusion at some point in the text, which in turn results the readers’ perceptions of the scenes to be foggy. Therefore by read...

... middle of paper ...

...ses these devices ever so intelligently to catch his readers’ attention. He makes sense of it eventually through tricky and clever some wordplay by using literary devices such as, symbolism, metaphors, imagery and foreshadowing. The pictures which are created by his use of imagery in his

sentences, the comparison between literary elements and literal objects by the use of metaphors, and the representation of ideas by use of occurrences by use of symbolism, he proves that sometimes there is much more than meets the eye.

Works Cited

1. Poe, Edgar. “The Tell Tale Heart.” THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF THE MODERN AGE. Rev. Ed. Douglas Angus. New York: Fawcett Premier, 1974. 1-4. Print.

2. “The Online Literature Library.” Literature.org. Knowledge Matter Ltd., n.d. Web. Mar. 13, 2011.

3. “Shmoopbeta.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University., n.d. Web. Mar. 13, 2011.

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