Rodrigo Fabian Calderón Muñoz

1. Dark Romanticism. EDGAR ALLAN POE - The Tell-Tale Heart

a. Individually or in pairs, read the story and answer the questions (Reading
Comprehension).

Exercise A.
1. I heard sounds from the place where the evil are (is) punished after death. Comentado [RFCM1]: ask the teacher: Why is “are” in
this sentence?
B. hell
2. Why do you say that I am out of my mind?
C. mad
3. It is not possible to say how the idea first entered my head
A. impossible
4. I did not dislike the old man; I even loved him.
C. hateful
5. Every night about twelve o clock I slowly opened his door and loocked at him. Comentado [RFCM2]: ask the teacher: Why is loocked?
Is locked possible?
D. at midnight
6. Slowly, by degrees, I lifted the cloth.
A. little by little
7. In the dark stillness of the bedroom my anger became fear
B. silence
8. I pushed my chair across the floor to cover that dreadful sound.
C. terrible
9. I stood still for a whole hour.
A. without moving
10. I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever!
B. must
Exercise B.
1. Every night when all was dark and quiet in the house and in the town
c. I slowly opened his door
 Rodrigo Fabian Calderón Muñoz

2. The eight night

A. I was more than usually careful when I opened the door
3. When I lifteted the cloth, I saw
C. a small, small light
4. As I fell on him and held the bedcovers tightly over his head
B. the old man gave loud cry of fear
5. ...put the body where no one could find it.
B. First I cut off the head, and then I

b. Look up definitions for words you do not know and write them alphabetically in the
shared document: EDGAR ALLAN POE - The Tell-Tale Heart VOCABULARY

My unknown vocabulary
Anger: a strong feeling against someone who has behaved badly, making you want to
shout at them or hurt them
Bear: to accept someone or something unpleasant
Cloth: woven material made from cotton, wool.
Manner: the way in which a person talks and behaves with other people
Rushed: to hurry or move quickly somewhere, or to make someone or something hurry or
move quickly somewhere
Thick: something that is enlarged sideways
Vulture: a large bird with no feathers on its head or neck that eats dead animals
Wide: measuring a long distance or longer than usual from one side to the other

c. Individually or in pairs answer this question: What examples or characteristics of the

Dark Romanticism can you mention from the Poe’s THE TELL-TALE HEART?
Explain and exemplify your answer (take a sentence (sentences) or a paragraph from
the text).

• Often focus on the outcasts of society and their personal torment.

Example: “Yes, I have been ill, very ill. But why do you say that I have lost control of my
mind, why do you say that I am mad?”
Explanation: ask for approval from other people to insist on what you feel to have as a
disease blaming others and victimizing yourself.
• Narrate themes such as supernaturalism, sin, evil, and self-destruction
Example: “His eye was like the eye of a vulture, the eyes of one of those terrible birds that
watch and wait while animal dies”
 Rodrigo Fabian Calderón Muñoz

Explanation: to make comparisons and similarities of physical and behavioral descriptions

between humans and animals something that does not actually happen
• presents sociopathic and psychopathic profiles of the characters
Example:

Explanation: step by step planning to murder, hide the corpse and respond to the crime
authorities, crimes are done with brutality and there is satisfaction of the crime increasing
the happiness of the psychotic and / or sociopathic mind.

d. Send your answers (a, c) to jgarciaf@ecci.edu.co