How does Edgar Allan Poe keep the reader in suspence in 'The Tell tale heart'

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The Tell-Tale Heart

How does Edgar Allan Poe keep the reader

in suspense in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?

in the very first sentence, Poe starts to build up the tension by saying 'True - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous' this repetitiveness builds up the tension, the word 'dreadfully' gives the reader a clue that it is going to build up to something bad. He then gives us a clue that he is a bit of a mad man by saying 'but why will you say that I am mad?' this automatically makes the reader suggest he is mad, but we don't know why yet. The story is being narrated by the murderer, and in the beginning, he really makes you empathise with him. You can really imagine this scary eye. He says 'whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold' so he is really scared of this eye and you can relate and feel sorry for him.

Poe talks about time throughout the story. He mentions when time is going slow, when time is going fast, and also he changes the pace, switching between slow and fast. These elements add to