Read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” You may have read this story in a lesson in the unit. If you did, take some time to review the story. If you have not read it, read it now. As you read the story, take notes on the following points: the circumstances of the narrator’s imprisonment the condition of the narrator’s prison the narrator’s reaction to his prison and torture historical references or allusions that appear in the story