Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and develop critical thinking skills with this close reading analysis worksheet covering Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum,” a short story of special appeal to students who are interested in horror stories and Halloween. An answer key and copy of the public domain short story are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
This resource may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using this resource for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.
Students will perform the following tasks:
- Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
- Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of Dark Romanticism
- Determine the effects of the author’s language and narrative techniques
- Consider the role punctuation plays in terms of developing suspense and advancing plot with an emphasis on em dashes
- Examine how characters think, behave, interact, and develop
- Apply knowledge of literary devices with an emphasis on allusion, metaphor, onomatopoeia, paradox, personification, sibilance, situational irony, and more
- Articulate how the author establishes and maintains a surreal tone throughout the story
- Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
- Write about Gothic fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
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