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Edgar Allen Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum

Hi... I just re-read a few of Poe's stories. The Gold Bug, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Pit and the Pendulum.

I first read The Pit and the Pendulum when I was about 5 years old. Mom used to read to us from 101 Famous Poems and I loved The Raven so she bought me a book of Poe. I found some amazing things upon re-reading it 50 years later! 1. that I could have followed the language at all at that age. 2. That I had forgotten most of the story including (SPOILER) the pit (I just thought the entire place where he was tied up was the pit), the rats (you'd think that would have made an impression unless I just didn't know what rats were), the movement of the walls closing in, and the last minute rescue.

My memory of the story is of a man tied to a stone slab while a giant pendulum swung ever closer whilst the sound of the air movement became ever louder, and the moment of his death drew closer with every swing of the pendulum. I have dreamed that scene a thousand times through the years leaving out all the other elements. It is interesting what the mind focuses on - and it says a lot about who I became that I read Poe at 5. Hmmmm.
 
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