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How Does Edgar Allan Poe's Use Of Suspense

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When you think of a horror story you think of getting scared or feeling tension, both things that you should experience when reading a horror story and that “the Tell-Tale Heart” does really well. Additionally, “the Tell-Tale Heart” is a story written by Edgar Allan Poe, one of the greatest horror writers, it was also published in 1843 and is one of the greatest and most unique stories I have read. As what makes the story very great and unique is how the author uses realism to scare the reader because it can happen to anyone. This is what Edgar Allan Poe was thinking when he said “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality” which means that you won’t be very scared from a fictional story, as a realistic …show more content…

For example, he has little information in the short sentences and enough detail in the run on sentences. While most might think this is improper grammar, it actually adds suspense to the story as the narrator will know more than the reader in many situations, making the reader not know what is going to happen next. Let alone that suspense is one of the biggest parts of a horror story as shown by Russel when she states “stories share the use of suspense as a tactic with many other kinds of literature… We don’t know what is going to happen. But that suspense is intensified by our knowledge of the genre” and it stays true to this when he doesn’t share how and when he is going to do something or if you know the genre. For example, you would know the heart beating meant something bad, but you would not know what is going to happen, just that it’s not good, and that would make you want to know more and make it more suspenseful. Furthermore, this is supported by the fact that the author is unreliable, as the reader won’t know if he is lying or telling the truth about something that is happening or is going to happen, making it more suspenseful. For instance, when he denies his insanity, you can already know he is an unreliable author and won’t know if he is lying about the sounds or if everybody does hear

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