What are two metaphors and two similes in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

Metaphors are authorial tools to highlight similarities between two things that cannot be literally compared. Similes are a subset of metaphors that specifically use "like" or "as" to make that comparison.

Consider the following phrase, which contains both a metaphor and a simile:

His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness . . .

The metaphor is "thick darkness." Darkness can't literally be thick, as could a soup or pudding, but by referencing thickness, Poe emphasizes how impenetrable the black is. The simile is "black as pitch," comparing the darkness of the night with the darkness of sticky tar.

Simple simile and metaphor like the ones above are common across all writing, but authors such as Poe use both tools with sophistication, building mood, character, and plot. Here is another sentence containing both a simile and a metaphor:

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 in the lantern. So I opened it—you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily—until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

The metaphor is the "vulture eye," which describes the eye of the old man that the narrator seeks to murder. Describing his eye as a vulture's does not mean that the old man literally has eyes transplanted from a vulture, nor does it imply any physical resemblance in color, size, or shape. Rather, the phrase references the traits commonly associated with vultures: cruelty, opportunism, and enjoyment of death and decay.

The simile is "like the thread of a spider." Here, the comparison is more direct but still not literal. By saying that the beam of his lantern is "like" a spiderweb, he is emphasizing its thinness and fragility, although it is almost certainly not literally that narrow. However, he's also comparing himself to an animal, contrasting the scavenging vulture with his own spider-like patience as a hunter.

When the narrator claims that the old man "had the eye of a vulture -- a pale blue eye, with a film over it," he is using a metaphor.  It isn't really a vulture eye in the old man's head, and so we know it must be figurative.  He compares the old man's eye to a vulture eye because it makes him think of death, and vultures are very much associated with death.

The narrator also claims that the old man's eye has "a hideous veil over it."  Again, it doesn't have a literal veil over it, but the narrator compares what is likely the old man's cataracts to a veil.  We often think of a veil separating death from life, hiding death's mysteries from us (and yet they are so close and separated from us by something so thin), and so this metaphor also points toward the narrator's association of the eye with death.

The narrator describes what he thinks is the old man's heart beat (though it is really his own) as "a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton."  This simile compares his heart beat to a ticking watch (often associated with death as well -- think of a person who is "running out of time").

Finally, the narrator describes the ray of light from his lantern as being "like the thread of the spider."  This simile compares the thin ray of light to a spider's silk; it was such a very very thin ray that it seemed as slight as the threads that make up a spider's web.  Spiders also typically have a negative connotation, and, in this case, it seems to add to the creepiness of what the narrator is doing.

What are three examples of irony in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

There are three main types of irony in literature. First, dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that the characters in a story do not know. Second, verbal irony is when someone says the opposite of what they actually mean. Third, situational irony occurs when the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what was expected, or intended. 

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," there are many examples of irony. There is verbal irony in the opening lines of the story when the narrator claims he is perfectly sane, before telling the story of how he killed an old man he was supposed to love, by his own admission, just because he didn't like his eye. 

"Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!" 

Sane people don't murder people for any reason, and certainly not because of one physical anomaly. It is verbal irony, because a person would never hurt another person whom they love. So his decision to murder the old man, while at the same time claiming to love him, is an example of saying the opposite of what is really meant. 

Another example of irony in this story is dramatic irony. The readers are aware of the plot, that the narrator has to kill the old man, but the old man is completely unaware. There is also dramatic irony when the policemen come to the door in response to screams and are completely unaware that the old man is in the floorboards beneath them, but the audience knows, because the narrator has revealed it. 

There is situational irony when the officers come to the house, as well. The audience sees the narrator coming up with a plausible story about where the old man is, and about the screams that neighbors heard. Readers see him calmly chatting with the officers over tea. It seems like he's going to get away with murder. But then his own conscience betrays him as he imagines he can hear the old man's heart beating. He tells the truth about what he did. 

"Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here--here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!" 

Dramatic irony is created when the audience knows something that one or more characters do not know, and it is often used to build tension in a text. Such dramatic irony is created as early as the first paragraph of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” when the narrator says,

I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

This character, then, is telling us that he can hear everything going on in heaven and on the face of the earth, as well as a great many things that happen in hell. This is simply not possible. He believes that he is not mad, that his senses are simply incredibly sensitive and acute. He claims that he is both calm and healthy, and yet his insistence that he can physically hear most of what happens in heaven and on earth would seem to suggest otherwise. Further, his apparent defensiveness would also indicate that he is not at all calm. The character himself is, of course, wrong about his own abilities and the state of his mental health, though he does not realize his error. However, we do, and because we know this thing that he does not know, it creates dramatic irony.

Another example of dramatic irony in the text is created by the fact that we know that the main character plans to murder the old man with whom he lives, but the old man does not know this. This creates tension, too, as we await the murder.

Indirect characterization occurs when an author allows readers to form judgments about the qualities of a character rather than directly stating those qualities. The author can do this by showing readers what the character does or says so that readers can draw conclusions about the type of person he or she is.

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," there is a good example of indirect characterization in the very first paragraph. The narrator remarks that whatever "disease" he has has "sharpened his senses" rather than dulling them. He claims that his sense of hearing has become much better. "I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell," he says. In other words, the narrator actually thinks that he can hear, with his normal human ears, everything that is happening in heaven and on earth as well as many things happening in hell. There is little indication that the narrator is speaking figuratively, so it can be argued that the narrator is in some sense delusional or "mad," despite his insistence to the contrary. In this example, then, readers are not told directly that the narrator is mad, but readers are enabled to come to this conclusion as a result of the narrator's own speech and ideas.

After the narrator has assured us many times that he is not insane, and he's described his repetition of movements and behaviors over seven nights as well as how he's lied to the old man to prevent him from getting suspicious.  Then he says that he "felt the extent of [his] own powers -- of [his] sagacity."  A person who is sagacious is one who makes good decisions and possesses sound judgment, two qualities the narrator clearly does not have.  This is arguably an example of dramatic irony, when the audience knows more than the character.

Further, the narrator's almost total lack of motive for killing the old man is ironic.  He says, "I loved the old man.  He had never wronged me.  He had never given me insults.  For his gold I had no desire."  Killing a person because one dislikes, even hates, that person's weird eyeball is not really a good reason to kill them.  A crime of passion can be understandable sometimes; we might pardon a murder if the murderer has somehow been terribly wronged by his victim.  However, the fact that the narrator really has no understandable reason to kill the old man is ironic (because our expectations of murder are different from its reality in this story).

After the murder, the narrator says, "If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body."  He dismembers the corpse in a tub so that no blood stains would betray him and he hides the pieces beneath the floorboards.  He believes that telling us this will make us think he is less insane when it will actually compel us to believe that he is more insane: this is ironic.

Finally, all along, this narrator has been telling us how reasonable he and his plan are.  We would never expect him to give himself away in the end, and this is exactly what he does.  Although the police seem to suspect nothing, he cries, "'Villains! [...] dissemble no more!  I admit the deed!'"  It is ironic that he confesses without provocation (except for his own terrible heart beat) or coercion because we would not expect most murderers to rat themselves out unless they were already suspected.

Irony is one of the most commonly-used techniques in "The Tell-Tale Heart." Here are four examples from the text:

• In the first paragraph, the narrator declares that he is not mad but then proceeds to tell a story in which he clearly displays the symptoms of madness. That is, he kills an old man because he has an "evil eye."
• The narrator says that he was "never kinder" to the old man than in the week before he killed him. This is ironic because murder is probably the least kind act possible.
• The narrator mentions that the old man keeps the shutters down on his window to protect himself against "robbers." This is ironic because the old man does not realise that he needs protection from the man he lives with. 
• The narrator is proud that he was able to kill and dispose of the man "so cleverly" and "so cunningly," as a means of avoiding detection. In the final scene, however, the narrator not only confesses to the crime of murder but then shows the police the exact location of the body. 

Can you provide an example of verbal irony from "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

Verbal irony is when the narrator says something that contradicts their true feelings or intentions. Essentially, verbal irony is when a statement has an underlying meaning that contrasts with its literal meaning. In the short story Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator mentions that he plans on killing the old man. He goes on to say,

"During all of that week I was as friendly to the old man as I could be, and warm, and loving" (Poe 2).

This would be considered verbal irony because the narrator is anything but loving and warm. He is plotting to kill the old man, yet describes himself as "loving." A loving person would never plot to commit murder.

Another example of verbal irony takes place after the narrator buries the mutilated body. The police arrive and the narrator comments,

"I took them through the whole house, telling them to search it all, to search well" (Poe 4).

The narrator obviously does not want the police to search everywhere because if they did, they would surely uncover the old man's body. The narrator simply tries to avoid suspicion by making this contradictory statement which also classifies as an example of verbal irony.

What are three examples of guilt in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The narrator does not appear, on the surface, to feel guilt until after he has murdered, dismembered, and buried the old man whose eye was such an irritant to him. Even while the police, responding to reports of a scream, are searching the house, the narrator exhibits no guilt. It is not until the narrator feels completely secure that he has deceived the police that the waves of guilt flood through him.

The guilt first manifests or shows itself as a ringing in the narrator's ears. The more he tries to shake it off, the louder it gets. He states, first,

I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct.

Then he says,

it continued and gained definiteness—until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears. ... It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.

A second sign of guilt is the narrator's frenzied belief as the police sit and talk. He exclaims,

They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!

He also states, in extreme agitation,

Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer!

Finally, the narrator exposes his guilt through his belief that the dead man's heart is beating loudly from where his corpse is buried under the floorboards, exclaiming, "hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!" and finally ending with his confession:

I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

However, as we look back over the story, we might suspect that the narrator experiences a repressed sense of guilt that causes him to kill the old man in the first place. What fixates him is old man's watching "vulture" eye. It is possible that the unhinged narrator thinks the old man has seen him do something wrong. Whatever that wrong might have been—whether real or delusional—the narrator might have only been able to cope with his guilt by closing that eye forever. Then, in the end, he was so overcome with guilt that he needed to be caught and punished. He couldn't stuff the guilt away any longer, so he exposed himself.

What are examples of irony in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The central theme of Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Tell-Tale Heart is ironic. The opening paragraph features the story's narrator vigorously objecting to any suggestion that his mental state is anything less than perfect:

"TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story."

The irony lies in the story that follows, which inarguably depicts an individual driven over the edge by the recurring sight of the eye of the old man with whom he shares a home, an eye described as resembling "that of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it."  Which leads to the next example of irony in Poe's story: the plot by the narrator to kill the old man despite the latter's entirely inoffensive nature.  The narrator makes a point of emphasizing that he holds no ill will towards the old man -- "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire" -- yet such is his madness that he wants to kill the old man.  There is irony in his sentiments and in his actions, which do involve the old man's death.

A final bit of irony lies in the story's conclusion.  Having argued for his sanity, the narrator continues to display behavioral characteristics more like to the insane.  His guilt over his actions causes him to imagine that he is hearing the beating heart of the deceased who he buried under the floorboards, which causes him to cry out to the visiting police officers that he has killed his roommate.

Dramatic irony is definitely shown through the narrator’s remonstrations to the audience that he is not mad—he is not insane. The audience knows, even though the narrator has yet to accept it, that he is indeed mad. There is irony in the stealth with which the narrator creeps around waiting for the eye to be open, when it is the stealth that keeps the old man asleep and unaware. There is situational irony on the night when he startles the old man, opens the lantern after an hour or more and sees the eye looking at him. This is ironic because it is the open eye that he has been waiting for, and yet the eye fills him with rage. We would expect manic joy at the least that the deed could now be done. And there is great irony in that “his acute sense of hearing” caused him to hear the beating of a heart which could no longer—and did no longer—beat.

Enotes has some great resources:

http://www.enotes.com/tell-tale-heart

Is there irony in "The Tell-Tale Heart," and how does it function in the story?

You ask a very good question.  There is, indeed, a use of irony in "The Tell-Tale Heart."  The most common form of literary irony is situational irony, which takes place when something happens in the story that goes against what we (the reader) expect or what makes sense.

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," there are several examples of irony.  It is ironic that the murder's attempt to conceal his crime is what actually causes his incarceration.  The fact that the killer confesses his crime when the policemen seemed to be quite relaxed and had no intention of arresting him is ironic.  The death of one man with what may be considered a flaw (his eye) at the hands of one with a much more severe flaw (madness) is ironic; the murderer's flaw was hidden, but was infinitely more serious than the murdered's, which was visible, but of no danger to anyone but himself.

Overall, there are many ironies within "The Tell-Tale Heart."  The principle of the value of friendship can be interpreted as being addressed via irony, as can many other variables.  Within the story, several core human values are touched upon in ways that may be seen as ironic.  This use of irony is typical of Poe's works.

I would also like to add that it is quite ironic that he is basically the old man's helper and friend, a confidante of sorts, yet he turns around and plans his murder.  In addition, the narrator claims that "he loves the old man and meant him no harm", yet he carefully plans the man's murder!

I would say that there is a sense of irony due to the fact that the narrator, who is clearly insane, is trying to convince the reader (and maybe himself) how sane he really is. But in this determination to show himself to be sane, he never denies having killed the old man - he fully admits his "guilt" in having ended the man's life, but chalks it up to the man's eye having caused this to happen.  Check the link below for more information on the themes in this great story!

The central irony of Poe's tale is that the story the narrator tells about the killing of the old man actually proves the opposite of what the narrator intends. That is, by explaining why he killed the old man, the narrator hopes to show that he is sane, but this story in fact demonstrates how sick he really is.

There are other ironies that are contained in this larger one. For instance, it is ironic that the narrator kills the old man to escape the gaze of his "vulture-like" eye but can still hear his heart after he is dead. It is ironic that his heightened senses, which he says are evidence of his "powerful" mind, actually drive him first to kill, then to reveal himself to the police. It is ironic that the narrator, who wishes to show that he knew what he was doing and that his elaborate preparations for killing the old man are evidence of his rationality, actually is motivated by irrational fears.

Another irony concerns the rhetorical stance of the text of the story itself. As Poe well knew, there is a certain ironic quality in taking pleasure, as a reader, in reading about such gruesome events. The story is written plainly to cause the reader to feel that pleasure, rather than, for example, to make any comment on mental illness or the morality of the narrator.

What are some examples of irony in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

A major irony is the fact that the narrator planned a perfect crime and then was apprehended because he gave himself away. He confessed to killing the old man and showed the investigating officers exactly where he had hidden the dismembered body.

Another irony is in the fact that three investigating officers only chat with the narrator and show no suspicion of him or even of any foul play, but their blandness and failure to show any signs of suspicion are what ultimately cause the narrator to give himself away. He cannot believe they do not hear the beating of the heart as it grows louder and louder. He thinks they are playing cat-and-mouse with him.

It is ironic that a homicidal maniac should be trying to pass himself off as a genial host to these three investigating officers. The reader can imagine how nervous the narrator must actually feel. He says at the very beginning

True!--nervous--very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, but why will you say that I am mad!

It is ironic that the narrator is striving to show that he is perfectly sane and rational when everything he is explaining and describing shows just the opposite--that he is totally insane.