Description
Have your students read the foreboding, gothic short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe using this close reading and literary analysis lesson designed to deepen comprehension and critical thinking.
This resource places the full text of the story side by side with guiding questions, allowing students to annotate, analyze, and define academic vocabulary as they read. The structure encourages active reading and helps students track Poe’s use of symbolism, allegory, and imagery throughout the text.
Before reading, students explore the symbolic meaning of colors and complete a reflective journal activity to build background knowledge and anticipation. During reading, students engage with comprehension and close reading questions that require careful attention to language and detail. After reading, students analyze the story’s allegorical meaning and symbolism, then complete an objective summary prompt to demonstrate understanding.
This resource includes a before-reading color symbolism activity, a before-reading journal prompt, the full text of “The Masque of the Red Death” presented side by side with close reading questions, academic vocabulary to define, reading comprehension questions, after-reading analysis questions focused on allegory and symbolism, an objective summary prompt, and answer keys.
You will receive a teacher answer key (PDF), a student copy of activities in an editable Word document, and a print-ready student PDF, making this lesson easy to implement and adapt for your classroom.