“The Premature Burial” by Edgar Allan Poe Close Reading Questions

For many high school readers, psychological fiction and horror are genres that maximize engagement with literature. “The Premature Burial” by Edgar Allan Poe features elements consistent with both genres: a stream-of-consciousness technique, the intensification of an irrational fear, tales of being buried alive, and more. With this challenging worksheet composed of high-order questions, English teachers will help students extend beyond basic reading comprehension, support the development of close reading analysis skills, and save valuable time at home without sacrificing quality and rigor in the classroom. An answer key and copy of the public domain short story are included. Materials are delivered in printable Word Document and PDF formats. By completing this close reading activity, students will:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Explore dominant character traits
• Examine how complex characters think and behave
• Analyze diction to make logical inferences about the author’s intent
• Articulate the greater significance of a given detail
• Apply knowledge of various literary devices including eye dialect, onomatopoeia, allusion, dramatic irony, situational irony, and more
• Discern the meaning of an idiom as it is used in the text
• Explain how a particular word or expression is considered a pun
• Investigate the intended effect of narrative techniques such as the liberal incorporation of em dashes
• Discern the function of a particular detail
• Choose the most appropriate synonym to replace a word used in the story
• Explore nuances in words with similar denotative meanings
• Examine narrative structure
• Evaluate whether the narrator’s thinking is rational
• Draw parallels between the narrative and a featured nonfiction passage
• Defend claims and ideas with reasoned thinking and relevant textual evidence
• Write ideas with clarity, accuracy, and precision