Edgar Allan Poe

What this page covers

This page collects study material on the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, part of the Nineteenth-Century Prose strand in Literature. Most of it is mind maps, and they cluster around a handful of stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, Murders in the Rue Morgue and, above all, The Masque of the Red Death.

Where to start

If you are new to Poe, begin with the mind map The Tell Tale Heart Edgar Allen Poe. It breaks the story into plot, themes, setting and characters, and it notes that the narrator insists he is not mad while describing a murder. Next, open the quiz "The Tell-Tale Heart" Quiz 1 to see what stuck.

1. Read one mind map for the story you are studying.
2. Take the matching quiz, if there is one.
3. Go to flashcards for vocabulary.
4. Read a note or flowchart to fill gaps.

Comparing the maps

Several maps cover the same story, so you can compare how different students organized it. The Cask of Amontillado maps look at conflict, with Montresor against Fortunato, and at characters, revenge, setting and atmosphere. The Fall of The House of Usher map includes vocabulary such as desolate, bleak and sojourn. The Gothic Elements map is useful when you want to link several stories together.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map first, then close it and take a quiz. Note which questions you missed and return to the part of the map that covers them. The Murders in the Rue Morgue Quiz pairs well with the maps and flowchart on that story. The flashcard decks on Tell-Tale Heart vocabulary help with unfamiliar words before you reread the text.

Quizzes are few, so maps and flashcards do most of the work here. Because the resources come from many contributors, quality and detail vary, so check a map against your own copy of the story.

Your next step

Pick the story you are working on, open one map and see what it covers. When you want something tailored to your class, make your own map or deck.