“The Masque of the Red Death” Quiz and Close Reading Bundle

Promote active engagement with fiction, support the development of close reading analysis skills for high school, and evaluate general reading comprehension with this bundle of resources for teaching the Gothic short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. Included are the following: a printable, plot-based quiz; a worksheet composed of rigorous close reading questions; the public domain narrative; and answer keys. Materials are delivered in printable Word Document and PDF formats. By engaging with these materials, students will:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Provide an objective summary of the plot
• Analyze the intended effect of Poe’s descriptive language
• Analyze the author’s technique to explain whether a suggested revision would be appropriate
• Make logical inferences about characterization
• Articulate how setting influences character actions
• Determine the intended effect(s) of simile
• Apply knowledge of situational irony to the text
• Apply knowledge of anaphora to the text
• Apply knowledge of consonance to the text
• Isolate examples of inversion in a given excerpt
• Identify textual evidence in support of claims
• Define complex vocabulary and phrasing in context
• Navigate specialized reference materials successfully
• Write with clarity, logic, and precision