How does Edgar Allen Poe create an atmosphere of suspense and tension in The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart?

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Pre- 1914 Literature coursework

Edgar Allen Poe

Name: Jasper König

Date:

How does Edgar Allen Poe create an atmosphere of suspense and tension in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January the 19th, 1809 in Boston, USA. Apart from short stories he was also famous for poems, like "The Raven". He was one of the first detective and horror storywriters. Two of his stories are "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat". Both are psychotic murder stories with similar aspects. They are both written in slice of life and first person so we do not know much about the narrator or setting and other characters. All effects come together to create suspense. The reader cannot escape the mystery horror. The reader is involved until the very last word. Poe's uses of plot, setting, style, and characterisation and structure all help to keep suspense in both stories.

The plots of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" are fairly similar. In both stories the narrator kills someone close to themselves. Also in both stories they then hide the body in fairly similar places and both of the murderers