Chapter 11 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A Song of Joys O to make the most jubilant song! Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy! Full of common employments--full of grain and trees. O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
Chapter 11 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/20 · 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.
plural of “employment” — the state of being employed or having a job
From this reading “Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.”
plural of “fish” — any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills
From this reading “O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!”
the early stage of growth or development
From this reading “Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!”
plural of “joy” — the emotion of great happiness
From this reading “A Song of Joys”
joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success
From this reading “O to make the most jubilant song!”
the state of being a man; manly qualities
From this reading “Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!”
a rate (usually rapid) at which something happens
From this reading “O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!”
the state of being an adult woman
From this reading “Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!”
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 A Song of Joys
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
plural of “animal” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
bring into balance or equilibrium
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public
From this reading Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
plural of “employment” — the state of being employed or having a job
From this reading Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
plural of “fish” — any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
a relatively small granular particle of a substance
From this reading Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
the early stage of growth or development
From this reading Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
plural of “joy” — the emotion of great happiness
From this reading A Song of Joys
joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success
From this reading O to make the most jubilant song!
engage in
From this reading O to make the most jubilant song!
the state of being a man; manly qualities
From this reading Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
used to form the superlative
From this reading O to make the most jubilant song!
an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner
From this reading Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
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 O to make the most jubilant song!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A Song of Joys
a short musical composition with words
From this reading A Song of Joys
a rate (usually rapid) at which something happens
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading O to make the most jubilant song!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading O to make the most jubilant song!
plural of “tree” — a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
plural of “voice” — the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
the state of being an adult woman
From this reading Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
Chapter 11 of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman holds 100 sentences, grouped into 20 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 11 holds 100 sentences of Leaves of Grass, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 100 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 11 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 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4156 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1322 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1322, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 346 minutes of reading across 832 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Leaves of Grass section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 34 chapters of Leaves of Grass 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 Leaves of Grass, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
