Unit: Poe and Suspense

Grade Level/Course: 9th Grade Engl. I

Teacher: Burkhalter, Q

Learning Goals (Question 1)
Complex / Utilizing literal, figurative and connotative language found in Short stories, Poetry, and non-fiction
Simple / Genre, paraphrase, tone, imagery, connotation, denotation, Cultural aspects of writing, dialects, conflict: internal and external.
Planning for Question 2 / Planning for Question 3 / Planning for Question 4
Preview / Critical Input Chunk / Actively Process / Indentify metaphors and symbolism in relation to cultural morays in the story
  • In all of the stories how does the author create suspense and inspire fear in the reader?
  • Identify in lists the internal and external conflict in The Interlopers.
  • Compare and Contrast The Interlopers with The Most Dangerous Game(orally)
  • Compare and Contrast Cask of Amontilladowith Sonata for Harp and Bicycle(orally)
  • Compare and Contrast Cask of Amontilladowith The Raven (orally)
  • Compare and Contrast The Bells with The Raven
  • The Cask of Amontillado uses a first-person narrator (a narrator that is a character in the story), and, sometimes, first-person narrators can be unreliable.
How reliable or unreliable do you regard the narrator?
Are there any ways that the narrator might be manipulating the truth?
How would you describe the narrator's attitude toward himself and his actions? / Write essay analyzing the story and/or stories, or comparing the story in preview based on specific prompts.
  • After reading Poe’s Cask of Amontillado answer the following in a 3 paragraph essay. The narrator never specifies why he hates Fortunato. Instead, he states only that Fortunato caused "a thousand injuries" to the narrator and eventually "ventured upon insult."
What is your general impression of Fortunato?
Do any of Fortunato's words and actions support the narrator's belief that Fortunato is worthy of hatred?
Do any of Fortunato's words and actions refute the narrator's belief that Fortunato is worthy of hatred?
Be sure to provide support from the text with proper citation
  • In a 3 page essay Indentify the shift in tone in both of the Poe writings The Cask of Amontillado and The Bells. Determine how Poe creates this shift.
  • How does the setting of The Cask of Amontillado change as the story progresses?
Why do you think Poe chose to bring together in this story the dreariness of the catacombs and the festival atmosphere of the carnival?
  • The not so subtle shift in Poe’s The Bellsexemplifies the tone shift which is present in so many pieces of literature that fall into the category of horror or suspense. Is the shift effective or just jarring? What makes it this way? Back up your claims with evidence from the text and proper citation.
  • What elements of the setting in this story and poem would you consider typical of a horror story? What elements seem unusual? Do these elements show up in current works of horror? Write a 3 paragraph essay explaining why the elements present work or do not work for a piece of Horror Fiction.

Process as a class through discussion initial reaction to initial text / As a Class students will read Cask of Amontillado, The Bells, The Ravenby Edgar Allen Poe and take notes on the biographical details of Poe’s life.
As a class students will read Sonata for Harp and Bicycleby Joan Aiken and take notes on the biographical details Of Aiken’s life.
As a class students will readThe Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and take notes on the biographical details Of Connell’s life.
As a class students will read The Interlopers bySaki and take notes on the biographical details Of Saki’s life.
Vocab Chunk
  • Tone
  • Imagery
  • Metaphor
  • Connotation
  • Denotation
  • Conflict
  • Internal conflict
  • External conflict
  • Onomatopoeia
/ Snap shots:
  • Indentify the author’s purpose in the story
  • Relate the Story to the factual information presented
Tableaux’s:
  • Make a list of events in Poe’s life that may have contributed to his obsession with death.
  • Answer the following questions about Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game:
How can the reader tell who won the final encounter between Rainsford and Zaroff?
Do you think Rainsford's attitude towards hunting changes through the story?
  • Indentify the following literary devices used in The Bells by EA Poe:
Onomatopoeia
Assonance
Consonance
Rhyme
Meter
Alliteration
Caesura
Free verse
Hyperbole
Litotes
Metaphor
Personification
Refrain
Stanza
Verse
  • Indentify the elements of conflict within all of the literature presented, (orally) How does it drive the story?

Resources: Please add any text page numbers, web links, articles, or other unit resources here. Cask of Amontilladoby EA Poe (Page 61), Sonata for Harp and Bicycleby Joan Aiken(Page 46), The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (Page 214), The Interlopers by Saki (Page 270)