The Tell-Tale Heart Time Quotes

This strange time management technique suggests extreme loneliness. We learn later that the narrator has problems sleeping at night (and probably during the day). This moment is when we first begin to notice there's something funny going on with time.

It seems Poe is reminding us that we are in fact in a Gothic tale, where all bad things have to wait until just after midnight before they can play.

This is an amazing line. The narrator sees himself as a kind of clock, counting down to the old man's death.