Tell-Tale Heart Literary Devices
An example of hyperbole in the Tell-Tale Heart
"A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine...for a whole hour, I did not move a muscle," is an example of what type of figurative language.
Example of personification in the Tell-Tale Heart
"Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim," is what type of figurative language?
An example of foreshadow in the Tell-Tale Heart
"I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever," is an example of what literary device?
A description that sets a suspenseful tone in the Tell-Tale Heart
"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night," sets what tone in the Tell-Tale Heart?
An example of a metaphor in the Tell-Tale Heart
"Yes, he was stone, stone dead", is an example of what type of figurative language?
An example of simile in the Tell-Tale Heart
''a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider" is an example of what type of figurative language?
Foreshadowing
A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.
"I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold. . . ." How does the author create suspense in this excerpt?
By identifying the source of the narrator's irrational fear
In paragraph 4, the narrator describes going to the old man's room every night around midnight. Why is he unable to commit the murder for the first seven nights?
He cannot see the old man's eye, so he lacks the motivation to act.
How does the narrator's mention of his sharpened sense of hearing in paragraph 1 foreshadow the old man's death?
It foreshadows the point when the old man's heartbeat drives the narrator to kill him.
An example of motif in the Tell-Tale Heart
Multiple references to time throughout the story would be an example of what literary device?
An example of irony in the Tell-Tale Heart
The more the narrator insists that he is not mad, the more readers can detect evidence of his madness.This is an example of what literary device?
An example of symbolism in the Tell-Tale Heart
The old man's vulture eye is an example of what literary device?
A type of figurative language that compares two things without using "like" or "as."
What is a metaphor?
A type of figurative language comparing two things using "like" or "as."
What is a simile?
A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.
What is an idiom?
A type of figurative language that uses exaggeration to describe a situation.
What is hyperbole?
A literary device using descriptions that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste).
What is imagery?
a literary device that shows a contrast between expectation and reality
What is irony?
A recurring theme, subject or idea used as a literary device.
What is motif?
A type of figurative language that imitates the sound it represents.
What is onomatopoeia?
A type of figurative language that gives human qualities to an animal, object, or idea.
What is personification?
A device in literature where an object represents an idea.
What is symbolism?
An example of realistic fiction/horror
What sub-genre is the Tell-Tale Heart?
Suspense
a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.
