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.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
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.
Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto? Where’s Jewsharp Jim? Where’s Ringadoon Joe? Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone! Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
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 33/84 · 5 reading units · Lines 161–165
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.
the highest part (usually the melody) in a piece of choral music
From this reading “Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?”
past form of “drone” — make a monotonous low dull sound
From this reading “Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!”
a narrow secluded valley (in the mountains)
From this reading “Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?”
made the first orbital rocket-powered flight by a United States astronaut in 1962; later in United States Senate (1921-)
From this reading “Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?”
fraught with danger
From this reading “Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?”
having corresponding sounds especially terminal sounds
From this reading “Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?”
inflected form of “spin” — revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
From this reading “Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?”
a brass instrument consisting of a long tube whose length can be varied by a U-shaped slide
From this reading “Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!”
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 Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
(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 Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
an unofficial association of people or groups
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
the highest part (usually the melody) in a piece of choral music
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
neither warm nor very cold; giving relief from heat
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
having lost your job
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
past form of “drone” — make a monotonous low dull sound
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
a narrow secluded valley (in the mountains)
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
made the first orbital rocket-powered flight by a United States astronaut in 1962; later in United States Senate (1921-)
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Jewsharp Jim?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Jewsharp Jim?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Ringadoon Joe?
immediately past
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
held dear
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
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 Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
above and across; more than
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
fraught with danger
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
give an incentive for action
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
having corresponding sounds especially terminal sounds
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Ringadoon Joe?
except for; apart from
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
inflected form of “spin” — revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
a brass instrument consisting of a long tube whose length can be varied by a U-shaped slide
From this reading Ah, for the music over and done, The band all dismissed save the droned trombone!
look attentively
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Where’s Rhyming Ned? has he spun his last canto?
which person or people
From this reading Where’s Glenn o’ the gun-room, who loved Hot-Scotch— Glen, prompt and cool in a perilous watch?
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.
