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Copywork
About This Passage
A single suspended periodic sentence: Poe withholds the main clause behind a dash-bound qualification, so the syntax performs the very self-justification it describes. Copying it teaches subordination, the parenthetical dash, and how sentence shape can enact a state of mind.
The intense hypocrisy I made use of for the furtherance of my project—an hypocrisy pervading every word and action of my life for so long a period of time—could only have been rendered tolerable to my...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then identify the single sentence or moment you find most important to its meaning. Explain what it reveals about Poe's method and about Gordon as a narrator of his own peril.
Discussion Questions
- Gordon begins by claiming that we cannot 'deduce inferences with entire certainty, even from the most simple data,' yet later he repeatedly misreads what is happening around him. How do those moments change your trust in him as the teller of his own story, and why? Use details from the chapter to defend your view.
- Gordon condemns his 'intense hypocrisy' in a long, elaborate confession. How does the style of that confession change the way you read the remorse it expresses? Use details from the chapter.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A sudden, violent outburst of emotion or sensation.
Item 2
The state of being unconscious or unable to feel.
Item 3
A return to life, energy, or consciousness.
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Critical Thinking
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