Ask your students to write a review of the story. They should focus not just on what happened but why it happened and what they think this means. This will give them the opportunity to think more closely about the words they use to describe it and will help them focus on the symbols within the story. For example, the "pit" as a symbol for death or hell.
Make a two-column chart. Ask students to name any concrete thing that they remember from the story, be it the pit, the pendulum, the judges, the picture of Father Time or anything else they can think of. Write these down in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, write down what they think these things mean. The story has definite religious overtones, with references to hell, sin and redemption, which you can mention as a clue to the class.
Tell your students to search the text for nouns and adjectives, paying particular attention to those used more than once. What do these suggest about the scene? Is there anything about the use of certain words that adds to the tone of the story? Would different word choice have made a difference? These are all questions that can be discussed in class.
Ask students to make a chart with the headings: Suspenseful Moment, Dangerous Action, Pacing and Foreshadowing. Then tell them to search the text for any examples of these. When the pendulum starts to lower, is this suspenseful? It lowers very slowly as an example of pacing. Foreshadowing refers to a clue from the author about what is going to happen next. Is this present anywhere in the text?
Ask students to draw a scene from the story. What did they focus on? In all likelihood they'll have chosen the scene they feel best sums up the essence of the story, but can they tell you why they included particular objects? It will probably be the same reason that Poe chose to include them.
Play the 1961 Vincent Price film version of "The Pit and the Pendulum" for students. Ask them to note any differences in the way the film tells the story from the way that Poe wrote it. Can they think why these changes were made? Would they have done it differently themselves?