In the story the tell-tale heart Poe uses the first person narrative to create the suspense and tension making the reader wanting to find out more about what is going on and he uses literary devices to build this tension keeping the reader in suspense.
In the story Poe uses a lot of descriptive language when describing both things and events, Poe states “For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down.” Poe also states that “I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scaling’s. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye-even his- could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out-no stain of any kind – no bloodspot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all- ha! Ha!” This helps the reader imagine what is going on because of the good detailed description.
Another way Poe creates suspense is the use of repetition that he uses For example “I moved it slowly- very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep.” Another example of repetition would be “I undid the lantern cautiously- oh, so cautiously-cautiously (for the hinges creaked) - I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.” The use of repetition creates the tension to the reader and shows he had to be very calm and quiet.
Poe also uses the ideal of time (clocks) as a suspense to the readers for example “a watch’s minute hand moves quicker than mine did.” The ideal of time creates suspense and shows the effect of how the emotion in the story is, for example “when I had an end of these labours, it was four o’clock- still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door.”
In the story Poe uses a first person narrative as the narrator and because of that it bring suspense to readers, he carefully portrays his words in such manner that it