Chapter 1 of John Marr and Other Poems is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of John Marr and Other Poems is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
For how when the drums beat? How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day? There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din. Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin. Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
Chapter 1 of John Marr and Other Poems is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 16/84 · 5 reading units · Lines 76–80
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.
informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
From this reading “How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?”
an advertisement (usually printed on a page or in a leaflet) intended for wide distribution
From this reading “Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.”
United States musician who was the first to use the vibraphone as a jazz instrument (1913-2002)
From this reading “How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?”
constituting the undiminished entirety; lacking nothing essential especially not damaged
From this reading “Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.”
calm by deception
From this reading “There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.”
a compound with which fabrics are treated to repel water
From this reading “Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.”
third-person singular of “reveal” — make visible
From this reading “Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.”
a gap between cloud masses
From this reading “Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.”
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 There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
over or across in a slanting direction
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
inflected form of “befall” — become of; happen to
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
in bodily form
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
an advertisement (usually printed on a page or in a leaflet) intended for wide distribution
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
a loud harsh or strident noise
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
let fall to the ground
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
plural of “drum” — a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
to come or go into
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
an old word for “before”
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
wear away by rubbing
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
United States musician who was the first to use the vibraphone as a jazz instrument (1913-2002)
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
constituting the undiminished entirety; lacking nothing essential especially not damaged
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
calm by deception
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
being or dressed in clothes that are worn or torn
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
a compound with which fabrics are treated to repel water
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
third-person singular of “reveal” — make visible
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
a gap between cloud masses
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
a partly sheltered anchorage
From this reading How in the fray In Hampton Roads on the fine balmy day?
Complete absence of sound; a state of quietness and stillness.
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
marked by absence of sound
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
a cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
in or at that place or location
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading Through a ragged rift aslant in the cannonade’s smoke An iron-clad reveals her repellent broadside Bodily intact.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Let us enter that silence ere the belchings re-begin.
at the time that
From this reading For how when the drums beat?
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading There a lull, wife, befell—drop o’ silent in the din.
Chapter 1 of John Marr and Other Poems by Herman Melville holds 424 sentences, grouped into 85 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 1 holds 424 sentences of John Marr and Other Poems, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of John Marr and Other Poems by Herman Melville exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 424 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 1 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 John Marr and Other Poems by Herman Melville on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 824 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12841 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12841, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 68 minutes of reading across 165 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through John Marr and Other Poems section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of John Marr and Other Poems 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 John Marr and Other Poems, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
