Q 01/05

Which disorder, named for want of a better term, plagues the narrator of The Premature Burial?

A) Epilepsy

B) Narcolepsy

C) Catalepsy

D) Apoplexy

Answer · why

C) Catalepsy

Catalepsy was a real diagnosis in Poe's day, and the narrator says even rigorous medical tests could not tell its deepest trances from death.

Q 02/05

In The Premature Burial, where is the narrator really lying when he thinks he has woken in a grave?

A) A ship's berth

B) A hospital bed

C) A wine cellar

D) A sleeping car

Answer · why

A) A ship's berth

He lay in a ship's berth barely eighteen inches wide, having sheltered from a storm aboard a small sloop.

Q 03/05

In The Premature Burial, what hangs from the narrator's vault roof, its rope meant for his hand?

A) A brass gong

B) A large bell

C) A signal lamp

D) A hunting horn

Answer · why

B) A large bell

A large bell was one precaution among many: the vault doors opened from inside, and the padded coffin's lid sprang up at the slightest movement.

Q 04/05

Which US president shared The Premature Burial's dread, ordering a three-day wait before entombment?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) Andrew Jackson

C) John Quincy Adams

D) George Washington

Answer · why

D) George Washington

George Washington gave the order on his deathbed in 1799, telling his secretary Tobias Lear to wait three days before burying him.

Q 05/05

In The Premature Burial, whom do Edward Stapleton's doctors hire once his friends refuse a post-mortem?

A) Body-snatchers

B) Medical students

C) Cemetery watchmen

D) Hospital porters

Answer · why

A) Body-snatchers

Body-snatchers unearthed him on the third night after his funeral, and the dissection stopped when the supposed corpse rose from the table and spoke.