{"id":886,"date":"2010-10-27T06:36:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-27T11:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattangre.com\/blog\/?p=886"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:52:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:52:44","slug":"vocab-in-the-classics-the-tell-tale-heart-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/vocab-in-the-classics-the-tell-tale-heart-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocab in the Classics: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Vocab in the Classics. This is Part III of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Click on any of the linked words for a definition; there will be a quiz at the end!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little –a very, very little crevice<\/a> in the lantern. So I opened it –you cannot imagine how stealthily<\/a>, stealthily –until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.<\/p>\n

It was open –wide, wide open –and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness –all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow<\/a> in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.<\/p>\n

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over acuteness<\/a> of the senses? –now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped<\/a> in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

But even yet I refrained<\/a> and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo<\/a> of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! –do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid<\/a> the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me –the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once –once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily<\/a>, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled<\/a> sound. This, however, did not vex<\/a> me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When this story came out, it was probably very frightening indeed to people who had never seen a horror movie.<\/p>\n

Did you click on all the words you weren’t sure about? If so, you’ll have no problem with this:<\/p>\n

\nTATTOO : SPORADIC
\nA. cacophony : dulcet
\nB. harmony : auxiliary
\nC. lament : melodious
\nD. reveille : ablutionary
\nE. marking : noisome\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A good strategy for Analogies problems is to write a linking sentence expressing the relationship between the two stem words. A TATTOO is a continuous, even drumming. That is, a TATTOO is not<\/i> SPORADIC. And indeed, cacophony<\/em> is not dulcet<\/em>. The answer is A.<\/p>\n

By the way, “the hellish tattoo of the heart” sounds a little more vexing<\/i> when you imagine it sounding like a military drummer.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for the next installment in the story….<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Vocab in the Classics. This is Part III of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Click on any of the linked words for a definition; there will be a quiz at the end! When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[1362696,1362698,1362690,1362695,1362688,1362682,1362684,1362681,1362679,1362693,1362685,1362687,1362694,1362689,1362697,1362683,1362691,1362686,1362680,1362692],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gre-strategies","category-vocabulary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12230,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/12230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}