illustration of a blade on the end of a pendulum swinging above a man's head

The Pit and the Pendulum

by Edgar Allan Poe

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The Pit and the Pendulum

In "The Pit and the Pendulum," Edgar Allan Poe employs various literary devices to enhance suspense and thematic depth. These include a faux epigraph to set the historical context, first-person...

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The Pit and the Pendulum

In "The Pit and the Pendulum," total darkness symbolizes the narrator's profound fear, utilized by the inquisitors as a form of psychological torture. This fear encompasses the unknown, the future,...

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