Chapter 7 of A Household Book of English Poetry is here in full — 305 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of A Household Book of English Poetry is here in full — 305 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks. Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall. They are here! They rush on! We are broken!
Chapter 7 of A Household Book of English Poetry is here in full — 305 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/61 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
-ing form of “burst” — come open suddenly and violently, as if from internal pressure
From this reading “The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.”
bring under control by force or authority
From this reading “Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.”
plural of “drum” — a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end
From this reading “The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.”
plural of “flank” — the side of military or naval formation
From this reading “The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.”
plural of “pike” — a broad highway designed for high-speed traffic
From this reading “Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.”
plural of “rank” — a row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another
From this reading “Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.”
English leader (born in Germany) of the Royalist forces during the English Civil War (1619-1682)
From this reading “Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.”
a wide street in London stretching from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament; site of many government offices
From this reading “The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
a region of northeastern France famous for its wines
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading We are broken!
-ing form of “burst” — come open suddenly and violently, as if from internal pressure
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
bring under control by force or authority
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
plural of “drum” — a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
plural of “flank” — the side of military or naval formation
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
marked by extreme and violent energy
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
a person of German nationality
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
hold firmly
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading They are here!
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
plural of “page” — one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
plural of “pike” — a broad highway designed for high-speed traffic
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
plural of “rank” — a row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
English leader (born in Germany) of the Royalist forces during the English Civil War (1619-1682)
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
move hurridly
From this reading They rush on!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We are broken!
a wide street in London stretching from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament; site of many government offices
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall; They are bursting on our flanks.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Grasp your pikes, close your ranks; For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.
Chapter 7 of A Household Book of English Poetry by Richard Chenevix [Compiler] Trench holds 305 sentences, grouped into 61 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 7 holds 305 sentences of A Household Book of English Poetry, unabridged, divided into 61 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of A Household Book of English Poetry by Richard Chenevix [Compiler] Trench exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 305 sentences, grouped into 61 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 61 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 61 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 7 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Household Book of English Poetry by Richard Chenevix [Compiler] Trench on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3408 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #55496 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #55496, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 284 minutes of reading across 682 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Household Book of English Poetry section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of A Household Book of English Poetry to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Household Book of English Poetry, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
