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ENG 1P -- Study Questions and Activities on
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Fall of the House of Usher” (pages 1 – 15):
A. After reading “The Fall of the House of Usher,” decide which of the following ‘question-words’ best fits in the blank at the beginning of each of the questions below. THEN answer each question in your notebook using full sentences.
Who / Where / What / Why
1. ______did Roderick Usher write to the narrator?
2. ______was becoming weaker and thinner each day?
3. ______did they put the Lady Madeleine’s coffin?
4. ______did the narrator walk around the room during the storm?
5. ______did the narrator do to make Usher calmer?
6. ______did Usher realize from the sounds that he had heard?
7. ______stood outside the door of the narrator’s room?
8. ______happened to the House of Usher at the end of the story?
B. Are these sentences about “The Fall of the House of Usher true (T) OR false (F)?
1. The narrator (the story-teller) had never met Roderick Usher before. ___
2. Lady Madeleine’s coffin was put in a room at the top of the house. ___
3. Usher’s illness grew worse after his sister’s death. ___
4. Usher had heard sounds from the coffin many days before. ___
5. The figure outside the door was the ghost of the Lady Madeleine. ___
C. Imagine that the narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher” wrote to his wife during his visit. Use each of the linking words below once to complete his letter:
although / and / but / but / since / so / when / which / who
Dear Sarah,
I have been here for a week now. Usher was pleased to see me, ______he has changed so much since our last meeting. He has a strange disease, ______makes him very thin, pale, and nervous. ______I have arrived, we have spent a lot of time together. I try to help him, ______his sadness is too deep, ______sometimes I am frightened by his fantastic ideas.
Two days ago, Usher’s sister Madeleine died, ______I must stay here a little longer. ______I hate this house of gloom and madness, I must help my friend ______needs me very much. ______he feels stronger, I will leave this terrible place forever.
With love, Nathaniel
D. Put together the following ‘beginnings’ and ‘endings’ of sentences in a way that makes the most sense:
‘Beginnings’:
1. Although Usher and I had been good friends when we were young,
2. The gloom that I felt was like a mysterious cloud,
3. His face was as white as it had always been,
4. As I finished reading the sentence,
‘Endings’:
5. and there was a kind of madness in his eyes.
6. which seemed to come from the lake and the house itself.
7. I jumped in my seat and then sat very still.
8. I knew very little about him.
“The Black Cat” (pages 16 – 25):
A. Decide if the following sentences about “The Black Cat” are true (T) OR false (F), THEN re-write the false ones with the correct information.
1. The narrator liked animals more than people. ____
2. Pluto the dog was the narrator’s favourite animal. ____
3. When Pluto bit the narrator, he cut one of its legs off. ____
4. The shape of a cat appeared on the bedroom wall. ____
5. The new cat looked the same as Pluto in every way. ____
6. The narrator killed his wife with an axe. ____
7. After he killed his wife, the narrator slept badly. ____
8. The police found the living woman and dead cat together
behind the wall. ____
B. Find the answer to these questions by looking closely at the story again.
1. Why did the narrator love animals more than people?
2. How did he kill Pluto?
3. How was the new cat different from Pluto?
4. Why did the narrator kill his wife?
5. Why were the police able to find the dead body of his wife?
C. The policemen who found the black cat need to write a report about their visit to the house. Put the following sentences in the most logical order, joining the parts where necessary, in order to make it read like the policemen’s report of the incident. Use the lines below to re-write the report.
1. He knocked on one of the cellar walls with his stick, . . .
2. . . . the owner took us down to the cellar.
3. . . . and on top of her head there was a black cat with one eye.
4. . . . so we got ready to leave.
5. On the 7th of July we went to 51 Baker Street.
6. The cat was making the terrible sound that we had heard.
7. . . . and suddenly we heard a sound from behind the wall.
8. Soon we found the dead body of a woman, . . .
9. After we had searched the rooms upstairs, . . .
10. We found nothing unusual there . . .
11. but then it became a loud and terrible scream.
12. Then the owner began to tell us how well built the house was.
13. We began to pull the wall down.
14. At first it was a soft cry, . . .
______
______
“The Masque of the Red Death” (pages 26 – 32):
A. Answer the following questions about the story:
1. How many people in the country had already died from the Red Death?
2. Who was NOT afraid of the Red Death?
3. How many friends did Prince Prospero invite to his castle?
4. What were the colours of the seven rooms in the castle?
5. What was against the wall in the last room?
6. What did people notice while the clock was chiming midnight?
7. What was the stranger wearing?
8. How did the Prince feel when he saw the stranger?
9. Why didn’t anyone want to touch the stranger?
10. What happened when the stranger turned and looked at the Prince?
11. What did the Prince’s friends find inside the stranger’s clothes and mask?
12. What was left in the castle when the clock stopped chiming?
B. Imagine you are a reporter who has to write an article for the newspaper regarding the way Prince Prospero’s castle was found the day after the masked ball. Be sure to include as many details (including fictional ones) that answer the questions:
Who? / What / When? / Where? / Why? / How?
AND: Be sure to include description of the rooms and the dead bodies.
C. Imagine that Prince Prospero, in The Masque of the Red Death, speaks to the mysterious stranger before he dies. Using your imagination, complete their conversation by filling in the blanks below. (Use as many words as you like.)
PRINCE: ______
STRANGER: You know very well who I am!
PRINCE: How ______?
The gates ______
STRANGER: I do not need a key to pass through a locked gate! ______
______
PRINCE: ______at once!
Or ______
STRANGER: I will not leave. And your sword cannot hurt me.
PRINCE: But what ______?
STRANGER: I have many names, but tonight I am called the Red Death.
PRINCE: Why ______?
STRANGER: Because, Prince Prospero, ______
______
And now, it is time for you to die!
“William Wilson” (pages 33 – 48):
A. Match the following halves of sentences in the most logical way possible and then order them correctly to create a paragraph of seven sentences in the space provided below:
‘Beginnings’ of sentences:
1. The narrator had to leave Oxford for Europe . . .
2. But in every city that he visited . . .
3. When he had evil plans, . . .
4. At first the narrator obeyed Wilson’s order, . . .
5. This made him feel brave and strong . . .
6. At last, at a party in Rome, the narrator took his sword . . .
7. But when he looked at his enemy’s face, . . .
‘Endings’ of sentences:
8. the other Wilson stopped them.
9. because everyone knew that he was a cheat at cards.
10. he saw that it was the same as his own.
11. and he thought that he could break away from his enemy.
12. the other William Wilson appeared.
13. and killed the other man.
14. but then he began drinking heavily.
______
B. Write answers to the following questions:
1. What was strange about William Wilson’s voice?
2. Why did the narrator run away from his first school?
3. Why did the narrator have to leave England?
4. What was strange about William Wilson’s clothes?
5. Who do you think William Wilson really was?
C. There are a number of possible answers to ‘who’ or ‘what’ the ‘other’ William Wilson was. Which of the following answers do you think is the best explanation? Why do you think so?
1. He’s a real person – who just happens to look identical to the narrator.
2. He’s a different part of the narrator’s own mind (like a split-personality).
3. He’s somebody that the narrator imagines in a kind of waking dream.
4. He’s the good side of the narrator’s character, like his conscience.
5. He’s some kind of ghost or supernatural being.
______
D. Here are four passages from Wilson’s diary. Complete them with the words below (use each word once), and then say who wrote each passage – the ‘good’ or the ‘bad’ Wilson.
cards / caught / cheat / cheating / clever
destroy / enough / evil / gambler / make / mine
pleasure / secret / should / sleeve / stop
stupid / thief / where / wife
1. I no longer play cards. I am known to be a ______, which is no better than a ______. Once, when I tried to win a lot of money by ______, I was ______and told to leave Oxford at once. But the man that I tried to ______was saved.
2. At Oxford I was a clever and successful ______. It was an easy way to ______money. I used special ______, which I hid inside my ______. I only played with ______people, but sadly, one day I was caught, and so had to leave England.
3. Tonight the Duke Di Broglio’s ______has agreed to meet me in a room ______we can be alone. She is young, beautiful, and not very ______
-- and tonight she will be ______! I shall fight anybody who tries to ______me.
4. I spend my life searching for ______. Tonight I have planned a ______meeting with the Duke’s wife. She is beautiful, but not clever ______to recognize an ______man when she sees one. Somebody ______warn her about me.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (pages 49 – 54):
A. Here are some untrue statements about “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Change them into true sentences:
1. Because of his disease, the narrator had terrible hearing.
2. The old man had once hurt the narrator in some way.
3. The narrator decided to kill the old man because of his gold.
4. The narrator took thirty minutes to put his head inside the old man’s room.
5. The old man could see and hear the narrator in his room.
6. The narrator felt sorry when he saw the old man’s eye.
7. The narrator pulled a heavy table on top of the old man.
8. He hid the old man’s dead body behind the wall.
9. The policemen came to the house because a neighbour had seen a
strange man there.
10. The narrator told the police that the old man was away in hospital.
11. When the narrator spoke more loudly, the noise in the room
became quieter.
12. The noise in the room was the old man’s watch.
B. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” a neighbour talks to the police (see page 53 in the story). Below is an imaginary version of the conversation they had. Put their conversation in the correct order in the space below and write in the speakers’ names (i.e. ‘Policeman’ OR ‘Neighbour’). HINT: The policeman speaks first (number 7).
1. ______: ‘This old man – do you know him?’
2. ______: ‘Well, there was a terrible noise tonight from the house
next door – like a great shout or a scream.’
3. ______: ‘Strange? In what way?’
4. ______: ‘ Hmm. I think I should go next door and ask a few
questions. Thank you for telling us about this.’
5. ______: ‘I’m not sure – about two o’clock perhaps.’
6. ______: ‘I went to the window and looked out. I didn’t see
anyone, but there was a light in the old man’s room.’
7. ______: ‘Now, sir, what’s the problem?’
8. ______: ‘So what did you do then?’
9. ______: ‘He talks to himself – and he has really wild eyes.’
10. ______: ‘Oh yes – he’s a very nice man. A younger man lives in
the house too – but he’s a bit strange.’
11. ______: ‘No, just one. But after that there was a loud bang –
like something heavy falling to the floor.’
12. ______: ‘Two o’clock. I see. And were there any more screams?’
13. ______: ‘What time did you hear this scream?’
______
C. Imagine that you are the old man in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. You think that the other man in the house (the narrator of the story) is a very strange person, and you are beginning to worry. Write an imaginative letter from the old man to his sister, describing the days and nights of the week before the murder.
Dear Sister,
______
With love, from your very worried Brother L
Final Review Exercises:
A. Imagine that news articles were written about the events in all five of these stories by Edgar Allen Poe. Which story goes best with each of the following possible headlines for such news articles? Fill in the correct title after each one:
TITLES of STORIES:
“The Fall of the House of Usher” (USHER)
“The Black Cat” (CAT)
“The Masque of the Red Death” (DEATH)
“William Wilson” (WILSON)
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (HEART)
HEADLINES of NEWS ARTICLES:
“FANTASTIC PARTY ENDS IN DEATH” ______