SERVITO, JUAN MIGUEL G.
DECEMBER 16,2021
BSCE 3D
WORLD LITERATURE
THE TELL-TALE HEART
By: Edgar Allan Poe
CHARACTERS:
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THE NARRATOR
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THE OLD MAN
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THE THREE POLICEMEN
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A NEIGHBOR
SETTING:
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IN THE SITTING ROOM OF A HOUSE AT NIGHT.
MOOD:
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story classic for all times. In the story, Poe creates a creepy,
scary mood through the narrator's denial of madness, the description of the old man's eye,
and the repetition of certain words throughout the story.
THEME AND MORAL LESSON:
The moral of ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' is that a guilty conscience will take control.
PLOT:
It tells the famous Edgar Allan Poe story of the deranged boarder who had to kill his
landlord, not for greed, but because he possessed an "evil eye." The killer is never seen but
his presence is felt by the use light-and-shadow to give the impression of impending
disaster.
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SYMBOLS:
The Heart - Traditionally the heart symbolizes the emotional center of the individual. In
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” it symbolizes the narrator's guilt.
The old man's eye in the story, the narrator becomes obsessed with the old man's eye. He
thinks it looks like ''the eye of a vulture,'' and whenever he looks at it, the narrator becomes
cold and fearful.
The death watches in the wall,” to which the narrator in Poe's “The Tell-Tale Heart”
hearkened “night after night,” as an insect (Liposcelis divinatorius)
INTERPRETATION:
My own interpretation of the story of Edgar Allan Poe is that it describes the committing of
murder and then confessing it due to being tormented by guilty conscious
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ANNABEL LEE
By: Edgar Allan Poe
CHARACTERS:
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Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe (wife)
Eliza Poe (mother)
David Poe Jr. ( father)
William Henry Poe (brother)
Poe Museum.
Poe Cottage.
Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum.
National Historic Site.
SETTING:
The setting of this poem is almost hyper-real, all jagged edges and steep cliffs and pounding
waves. The ocean is black and cold; the sky is filled with big boiling grey clouds. Annabel's
tomb would have to be made of black marble, huge and cold, and perched right above the
ocean, almost like it was about to fall in.
MOOD:
In "Annabel Lee," Poe begins with a melancholy mood that turns horrific by the end of the
poem.
THEME AND MORAL LESSON:
' Love is a huge theme in the poem. The narrator and Annabel Lee fell in love when they
were young 'in a Kingdom by the sea. ' Their love is challenged by Annabel Lee's death, but
the narrator does not give up on her, believes that their souls are intertwined, and sleeps in
her tomb at night.
PLOT:
“Annabel Lee” tells the story of young love cut short by tragedy. As the speaker (often
assumed to be based on Poe himself, whose young wife died shortly before he wrote this
poem) discusses his relationship with the now-deceased Annabel Lee, he presents the love
between them as pure, eternal, and all-conquering.
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SYMBOLS:
THE KINGDOM This is the first major image we come across in the poem. Poe uses it a
bunch of times, always as a part of the phrase "a kingdom by the sea." In poetry we call that
repeated phrase a refrain. You can think of it like a chorus in a song. The verses tell a story,
but the chorus comes back to the main images again and again. Rhythm is a big part of
poetry, and this refrain helps give this poem its rhythm.
THE SEA If we were going to have a contest for biggest, fattest symbol in this whole poem,
we'd probably bet on the sea. It comes up again and again in the poem, and it's the image
that ties everything together. We think of the ocean in this poem as being huge and lonely
and cold. It's a nice reflection of the emptiness and desolation that the speaker feels now
that he has lost Annabel.
ANNABEL LEE She's the one. She's the reason for the poem and she's clearly the only thing
our speaker can think about. She was young and beautiful and one half of the perfect
couple. But even though Poe tells us all that, we don't learn very much about Annabel. She
doesn't talk, we don't hear what color her hair was, or how tall she was or anything like
that. If you have a picture in your head of Annabel Lee, it's because you made it up. No
detail is given here. Because of that, we think she's meant to be a symbol of impossible,
pure beauty and love. In fact, she seems a little too good to be true.
INTERPRETATION:
As I know Annabel Lee is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar
Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful
woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love
for her so strong that even angels are envious.
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