“The Tell-Tale Heart”
Figurative Language Mini-Project
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
1) Identify a passage in “The Tell-Tale Heart” where Poe uses figurative language.
Copy, quote and cite the text. (Make the quote LARGE).
2) Creatively show/draw what that figurative language might look like if it were literal.
3)
Write a literary introduction and create a thesis on the general topic of figurative
language. Give the general context of the quote. Finally, explain the effect that the
literary device has on creating a particular mood. (A substantial paragraph: 10-12 sentences).
Here is an example below:
(Yours will be done on a larger sheet of paper)
“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. . .” (p.46)
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” masterfully uses figurative language to create an eerie
tone. Set mainly in an old man’s bedroom, a caretaker tells why he feels the need to murder the gentleman he
is supposed to care for. The narrator is trying to justify why he feels the need to kill the old man because of
his eye. This is how he describes the eye: “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; and so, by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind
to take the life of he old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (p. F-7). Poe uses imagery so the
reader can see what it was about the eye that disturbed the narrator. Vultures have a very negative connotation.
For example, a vulture is symbolic of death. So when Poe uses a direct metaphor to compare the old man’s
eye to that of a vulture, it is no wonder why the narrator wants to get rid of the old man’s eye if he feels like
it’s stalking him like a bird of prey. In addition, the eye with the “film over it,” perhaps could represent
something to hide. This secretiveness and mysteriousness about the eye is really freaking him out and driving
him to commit murder. The narrator even says in the very next line that the old man’s eye made his “blood
[run] cold.” This figure of speech is definitely hyperbole. This exaggeration shows just how much the eye is
terrifying him and giving him the chills. The mood that is created by these figures of speech could be
described as mysterious and scary. The descriptions are so negative, it is no wonder that this already disturbed
man feels the need to get rid of the “Evil Eye” (p. F-8).