Chapter 6 of An Essay on Man is here in full — 98 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of An Essay on Man is here in full — 98 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
EPISTLE II. TO A LADY. Of the Characters of Women. Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all." Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
Chapter 6 of An Essay on Man is here in full — 98 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/19 · 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.
have
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
plural of “character” — an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story)
From this reading “Of the Characters of Women.”
(used of persons) standing above others in character or attainment or reputation
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
a specially long, formal letter
From this reading “EPISTLE II.”
continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
attach a tag or label to
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading “Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading TO A LADY.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
have
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
the supreme effort one can make
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
plural of “character” — an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story)
From this reading Of the Characters of Women.
(used of persons) standing above others in character or attainment or reputation
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
a specially long, formal letter
From this reading EPISTLE II.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading EPISTLE II.
a polite name for any woman
From this reading TO A LADY.
continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
attach a tag or label to
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
a vaguely specified concern
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
used to form the superlative
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
not any; not one
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
not one thing; not anything
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Of the Characters of Women.
on one occasion
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Of the Characters of Women.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading TO A LADY.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
consistent with fact or reality; not false
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
plural of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading Of the Characters of Women.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all."
Chapter 6 of An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope holds 98 sentences, grouped into 20 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 6 holds 98 sentences of An Essay on Man, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 98 sentences, grouped into 20 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 20 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 20 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 6 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.
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Project Gutenberg eBook #2428, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 161 minutes of reading across 387 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through An Essay on Man section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
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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 An Essay on Man, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
