It’s one o’clock in the morning; you're exhausted and all you want to do is sleep. Finally, when you manage to relax, close your eyes and start to fall asleep, you hear a loud crack in the ground and suddenly wake up with bad thoughts about what this mysterious noise is. In "The Tall-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, various techniques are used to detail an old man's discomfort at the slightest noise in the night as the narrator recounts his murder of the old man. Since anyone in such a situation would act the same way as the old man, his fear and anxiety does not surprise the audience; however, with Poe's use of figurative language, selection of details, and diction, the old man's nervousness is well represented and characterized. The use of figurative language serves to compare what the narrator sees and hears to something more relevant to the reader. Poe uses several examples of similes and personifications, but only a few correlate with the old man's well-being. As the narrator waits for the right moment to kill the old man, he notices the sound of the old man's beating heart. Poe writes “…a deep, dull, rapid sound came to my ears, like that of a watch wrapped in cotton,” to further explain exactly what the narrator heard (line 50-1). The comparison between the beating heart and the muffled clock serves as an exaggeration of a racing heart in times of fear and excessive excitement. The rapidly beating heart also contributes to the worry that continues to grow greater and greater in the old man, as demonstrated by Poe's personification that "fears kept growing upon him" (line 21- 2). Another factor added to the old man's fear is that the old man had been visited by Death, who...... middle of paper ....... " The word "shrouded", drawn from the old French word voloper meaning to conclude, is defined as to hide something, it can be inferred that death will take the old man's life But using "enveloped" as a supposed synonym "surround" gives the action a frightening feeling L. he use of diction is very important in defining the old man, because without the right words to describe the situation, the entire meaning and purpose of the story is lost. This sinister and frightening plot is only effective if Poe uses. the appropriate literary language. What he did is Poe is able to make the reader and future readers think twice about the mysterious and unusual noises heard in the night Hopefully in the future, though. you never hear an eccentric noise in your sleep, you will remember the fate of the old man and be wiser than he was..