Excerpts 1_6_3e_The Tell-Tale Heart by E. Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart

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Edgar Allan Poe's BiographyStep by Step

excerpt 1 The incipit

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Teaser

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excerpt 3

TEST 1

1953 animation

2006animation

TEST 2

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Edgar Allan Poe's Biography

Step By Step

Bio quiz› Get the facts right

Who is Edgar Allan Poe?› Watch a 3-minute bio

Trace écrite CO

Listening strategies› Aides à la compréhension d'une vidéo

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Edgar Allan Poe

Watch the video and take the Bio Quiz

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How well do you know Edgar Allan Poe?

Bio Quiz

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VOUS AVEZ FAIT LE QUIZ Voici quelques aspects qui ont pu gêner votre compréhension

LA VIDEO En règle générale, regarder une vidéo une seule fois ne suffit pas pour en avoir une compréhension fine et totale.

Lorsque vous savez qu'un quiz vous attend, vous voulez saisir le maximum d'informations.

Préparez cahier de brouillon et stylos pour prendre des notes.

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Analysez l'image figée de la vidéo pour vous préparer à la compréhension avant de cliquer sur la flèche "play"

• Vous savez qu'il s'agit d'une vidéo relative à la vie d'Edgar Allan Poe. Son nom et le mot "BIOGRAPHY" sont sur l'image représentant la vidéo.

• Si vous avez bien observé cette première image vous avez probablement lu le mot "writer" et savez déjà qu'il s'agit d'un écrivain.

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Quelles questions pouvez-vous vous poser pour vous préparer à comprendre la biographie d'un écrivain ?

Personal life

- Who is he? - Is/was he famous? - When and where was he born? What's his nationality? Where does/did he live? - Is he dead? When did he die? - Is/was he married? Does/did he have any children? - ...

Professional life

- What is/was his occupation/his job? (si vous ne l'avez pas déjà vu sur la vignette) - What kind of stories does/did he write? - ... ?

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Prenez des notes

Prenez des notes en fonction des informations attendues.

Profitez du fait que vous êtes autonome. Arrêtez la vidéo, regardez autant de fois que vous le souhaitez les segments difficiles à comprendre.

Utilisez un dictionnaire pour comprendre un mot nouveau. Lorsque vous ne savez pas comment l'écrire, le dictionnaire peut vous suggérer une orthographe. Assurez-vous alors de la pertinence du choix dans le contexte.

Aide! Il est vivement conseillé de travailler avec une ou deux fenêtres de dictionnaires et de traducteurs en ligne ouvertes. Les références ci-dessous sont données en guise d'exemples. N'hésitez pas à croiser vos résultats avec d'autres sources.

dictionnaire en ligne américain: https://www.merriam-webster.com/

dictionnaire en ligne britannique: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

traducteur en ligne https://www.wordreference.com/fr/

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(Re)faites le quiz

ASTUCE ! Vous pouvez ouvrir la vidéo dans une fenêtre différente de celle du quiz pour vérifier vos réponses au fur et à mesure de votre progression.

Compréhension des questions posées

Vous êtes seul(e). Prenez le temps de comprendre les questions. Utilisez un dictionnaire si nécessaire ou un traducteur en ligne.

Notez dans votre cahier les mots ou groupes de mots que vous aviez du mal à comprendre et traduisez-les.

Compréhension des réponses proposées

Procédez comme pour les questions. Avant de répondre, assurez-vous de la compréhension des réponses proposées.

Regardez autant de fois que vous le souhaitez les parties de la vidéo vous permettant de répondre aux questions du quiz.

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Regardez de nouveau la vidéo avec les sous-titres en anglais.

To sum it up

Défi: êtes-vous capable de doubler la voix des intervenants?

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To sum it up

Edgar Allan Poe is an iconic 19th century American writer. He wrote poems and mystery fictions such as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which is considered one of the first detective stories. Although Poe was one of the most influential American writers, he had difficulties making a living as a writer. The Raven, one of his most famous poems, was a real breakthrough which made him famous world-wide. It deals with a narrator's grief over the death of his beloved Lenore.

Vocabulary

grief

breakthrough

Complétez cette liste avec les mots dont vous ignoriez le sens.

Grammar

When Poe was two years old, his mother passed away, and his father had already abandoned the family. action 2 action 1 (antérieure à la mort de la mère)

La phrase ci-dessus, tirée de la vidéo est équivalente à la phrase ci-dessous tirée du quiz: Poe’s father abandoned the family before he was two years old.

Listen to your teacher read the text and learn it by heart

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The Tell-Tale HeartWatch a teaser before getting started

Guess what idea haunted him day and night

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Excerpt 1: The Incipit

TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? 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? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that 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 the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.

The author?

The reader?

The narrator?

1. Who says these words?

2. What did the narrator fear most? Why?

3. What idea was the narrator obsessed with?

To sum it up

Listen to David Alnwick read the text and practice reading it out loud

Excerpt 1: The Incipit

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The incipit

A nameless narrator addresses the reader directly in a very unusual, disturbing way. Indeed, before he even starts to tell his story, he insists that he is mentally sane and can explain what happened very calmly. He goes on to describe how he decided to kill an old man, whom he liked dearly, only because his vulture-looking eye petrified him. Despite his claim that he is not mad, the narrator’s words seem to prove the opposite.

Listen to your teacher read the text and learn it by heart

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Excerpt 2

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha!—would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously—oh, so cautiously—cautiously (for the hinges creaked)—I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.

1. Why was the narrator being so cautious?

2. Find the adverbs and phrases that describe how the narrator proceeds to look into the old man’s room every night. Does anything strike you?

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Excerpt 2

And this I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

In what sense was the narrator's behavior irrational?

To sum it up

Listen to David Alnwick read the text and practice reading it out loud

Excerpt 2

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To sum it up

The narrator explains how he was unable to kill the old man in his sleep because his vulture eye was closed while telling the reader how wary he was in avoiding waking him up. He also reveals the fact that he went over the same procedure for seven nights before he actually killed him. The narrator’s aim is to prove to the reader he is a wise man; his irrational and obsessive behavior, however, is that of a madman.

Listen to your teacher read the text and learn it by heart

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Excerpt 3

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers—of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back—but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers), and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out—“Who’s there?”

1. What makes the eighth night different?

2. What are the narrator’s feelings as he opens the door to the old man’s bedroom on that night?

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Excerpt 3

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall. Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart.

1. What is the narrator’s reaction when the old man cries out – ‘Who’s there?’

2. What makes the narrator sympathize with the old man?

3. Which sentence illustrates the narrator’s ambivalent feelings towards the old man?

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Excerpt 3

I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself—“It is nothing but the wind in the chimney—it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “it is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel—although he neither saw nor heard—to feel the presence of my head within the room.When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little—a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it—you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily—until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

What thoughts is the narrator obviously rejoicing in?

How does the old man become aware of the narrator’s presence in the room?

To sum it up

What does the narrator use his lantern for?

Listen to David Alnwick read the text and practice reading it out loud

Excerpt 3

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To sum it up

In this excerpt the narrator recounts how he startled the old man in his sleep while opening the door and thrusting in his head upon the eighth night. He explains in great detail that he kept still and waited for a long time, as a hunter stalks his prey, enjoying his power and the silent terror he inspired in his victim, until at last he opened his lantern, causing a thin ray of light to shine directly on the old man’s eye.

Listen to your teacher read the text and learn it by heart

Excerpt 4

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Before you read excerpt 4

Make sure you know your vocabulary and do the crossword.

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Excerpt 4

It was open—wide, wide open—and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness—all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot. And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?—now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

1. What emotions does the narrator feel as he stares at the old man’s open eye?

2. Which sentence from this passage echoes ‘I knew it was the groan of mortal terror’ from extract 3?

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Excerpt 4

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!—do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst.And now a new anxiety seized me—the sound would be heard by a neighbor!

1. What literary devices make the description of the beating of the old man’s heart particularly striking?

2. How does the narrator succeed in keeping the reader’s attention?

3. Which sentence in this passage makes us anticipate that the narrator is about to take action?

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Excerpt 4

The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once—once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

1. “I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound." What is incongruous in this statement?

To sum it up

Listen to David Alnwick read the text and practice reading it out loud

Excerpt 4

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To sum it up

In this excerpt, which begins with a powerful description of the old man’s eye wide open, Poe keeps building an atmosphere of tension and horror by changing focus to the old man’s resounding heartbeat. The noise grows so quick and so loud that the only way for the narrator to get rid of his own pent-up anger and terror is to leap into the room and extinguish the beating heart by killing the old man.

TEST

Listen to your teacher read the text and learn it by heart

Excerpt 4

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Test your grammar and vocabulary

Download excerpts 1 to 4 before doing the test

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