Metaphors In The Tell Tale Heart

Without the use of literary terms, stories can be very bland and will not interest the reader at all. Luckily, Poe uses metaphors, symbolism, and irony to create an effective short story. The use of these terms, allow the reader to get easily hooked in a book and urge them to continue reading on. First, Poe uses metaphors, or a word or phrase that is used to make a comparison between two things, to create a successful short story. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the beginning of the story starts out with the narrator stating, “He had the eye of a vulture” (Poe 1). The old man's eye is being compared to a bird that preys on dead animals, suggesting that the man's eye is repulsive to look at, much like the revolting bird. The narrator believes that

In “The Tell-Tale Heart” as the narrator was sitting nervously with the police, it explains his actions as, “I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, but the noise steadily increased...It grew louder...! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror... ‘I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart’”(Poe 3)! The heart symbolizes the narrator's guilt. He hears the “heart beat” twice thought the story, both occurring when he is nervous. The reason he is hearing the heartbeat may be that his own guilt is eating away at him causing his heart to race. Another example where symbolism build an effective short story is in “The Raven,” by Poe. When the narrator is begging for the raven to leave him, he states, “‘Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!...Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken!...And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door’”(Poe 5). In this short story, the Raven represents the narrator's grief and memories of Lenore. This is symbolising that the Raven will be with him forever, just like his thoughts of Lenore will be with him in spirit forever. Symbolism creates an effective short story by adding a deeper meaning and

In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” as the narrator was trying to convince the reader he was not crazy, he says, “The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad”(Poe 1)? Initially, the narrator says that he is not crazy, but then says he can hear heaven and hell. The reader is confused as to why someone who can hear heaven and hell would be sane. Another example of when irony is used in Poe’s short stories, is in “The Raven.” As the narrator recites his feelings of how he wants the bird to leave, he says, “‘And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door ...And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore” (Poe 4)! This is ironic because the short story focuses on the lost Lenore and never being able to see her again, but this quote is saying he will always be reminded by the memory of lenore forever. Even though physically Lenore is no longer with him, she will always be with him spiritually. In conclusion, irony makes the reader stop and think about what has just been said which puts an emphasis on the main