The Tell-Tale HeartA Literary AnalysisLike many of Poe's other works, The Tell-Tale Heart is a dark story. This one focuses on the events leading up to the death of an old man and the events that followed. That's the gist, but many deep meanings are hidden in the three-page short story. Poe uses techniques such as first-person narrative, irony, and style to create a believable sense of paranoia. In this particular story, Poe decided to write it in the first person. This technique is used to get inside the main character's head and see their thoughts and is often thrilling. The narrator of Tell-Tale Heart recounts how he killed the old man while pleading for his sanity. To quote a sentence from the first paragraph: “The illness had sharpened my senses, not destroyed them, nor dulled them. Above all, the sense of hearing was acute. I heard all things in heaven and on earth. I heard a lot of damn things. How am I crazy? Listen! and see with what health, with what calm I can tell you the whole story. This shows that we are in his you...