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Illustrated cover for The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

Short story · 1843

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe

Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy

Short story · 1843 · American · Romantic

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe

A murderer insists on his sanity while a dead man's heart keeps beating under the floorboards.

Gothic fictionHorrorShort storyGuiltMadnessTimeConfession

Reading edition

An authorized English PDF is not yet included for this work. The source links below offer edition searches; access and borrowing availability vary.

How to read it

The most efficient study of guilt in English: the sound the narrator cannot bear is his own pulse, and the confession arrives because conscience is louder than police.

Whole-work summary

A murderer insists on his sanity while a dead man's heart keeps beating under the floorboards.

Where to read & what to read about it

More by Edgar Allan Poe