Pit and the Pendulum

Description

Having been condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition, the narrator descends into a kind of hell. Dizzy with weakness and fainting with fear, he experiences such torments that death itself would be welcome. What troubles him most is the eternal question: how will he die? Toledo Prison is notorious for the torture of the condemned. What minds have dreamed up the terror of the pit in the centre of the cell? What is the significance of the painted figure of Time with his menacing pendulum? Why do the walls glow with heat?Experience with the narrator the intensity of his suffering when death seems inevitable but its form uncertain. Can anything, or anybody help him?

American writer, critic and editor Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery, including The Raven. Felix Bennett grew up in Bradford in northern England, and cut short a maths and astronomy degree at University College, London, in order to spend more time as an illustrator. He trained at Bradford, then at the Camberwell School of Art. He now lives and works in London. Gill Tavner was an English Teacher and Head of Department before turning to writing when she had young children of her own. She has also taught English in South East Asia, worked as a personal trainer, been a management trainee in an insurance company, led treks in Africa, run her own business and painted fake tattoos on Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Perhaps it is this variety that makes her such a versatile writer.