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Copywork
About This Passage
This is the hinge of Pym's terror on the cliff: the moment his imagined fall stops being imagined. Copying this sentence lets a writer study how Poe compresses a frightening idea, that fear can make itself come true, into a single, balanced line, where 'fancies' and 'imagined horrors' tip over into 'realities' and 'fact.'
And now I found these fancies creating their own realities, and all imagined horrors crowding upon me in fact.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize the chapter's movement from the cliff descent and Pym's near-fatal terror to the ambush and the canoe escape. Then identify the moment you think most defines the chapter, and explain why it carries that weight.
Discussion Questions
- At the height of his terror on the cliff, Pym feels not only fear but a 'longing to fall,' a craving to do the very thing he dreads. As he clings above Peters, what does this strange desire suggest about the mind, and why might dread turn into longing? Use the chapter's words about Pym's thoughts to explain.
- The chapter moves from Pym's inner, imagined horror on the cliff to the sudden, physical violence of the ambush that fells Peters. How do these two kinds of danger differ in the way Poe presents them, and why might he set them side by side? Use details from both scenes to explain.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
A state of nervous fear or trembling agitation.
Item 2
Mental images or ideas formed in the mind.
Item 3
Impossible to hold back or restrain.
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Critical Thinking
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