The Pit and the Pendulum

by Edgar Allan Poe

Overview

The Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed, but critical reception has been mixed. The tale has been adapted to film several times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781533690326
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	06/09/2016
Pages:	26
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.05(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of the macabre and mystery, Poe was one of the early American practitioners of the short story and a progenitor of detective fiction and crime fiction. He is also credited with contributing to the emergent science fiction genre.Poe died at the age of 40. The cause of his death is undetermined and has been attributed to alcohol, drugs, cholera, rabies, suicide (although likely to be mistaken with his suicide attempt in the previous year), tuberculosis, heart disease, brain congestion and other agents. Other Books of Author: • The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) • The Raven (1845) • The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) • The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) • The Pit and the Pendulum (1842) • Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) • The Cask of Amontillado (1846) • The Masque of the Red Death (1842) • The Purloined Letter (1844) • A Descent into the Maelström (1841)