Chapter 34 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 342 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter 34 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 342 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Mannahatta My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves. Paumanok Sea-beauty! stretch’d and basking!
Chapter 34 of Leaves of Grass is here in full — 342 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/68 · 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.
characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
-ing form of “bask” — derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in
From this reading “stretch’d and basking!”
possessive form of “city” — a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
run or move very quickly or hastily
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
past form of “found” — set up or found
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
abounding in rocks or stones
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
plural of “shore” — the land along the edge of a body of water
From this reading “My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.”
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 My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
-ing form of “bask” — derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in
From this reading stretch’d and basking!
the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
the person or thing chosen or selected
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
possessive form of “city” — a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
run or move very quickly or hastily
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
at any time
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
be agreeable or acceptable to
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
past form of “found” — set up or found
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
in a joyous manner
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
the act of departing
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
moving with great haste
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mannahatta
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
the message that is intended or expressed or signified
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
impressive in appearance
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Paumanok
past form of “resume” — take up or begin anew
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
abounding in rocks or stones
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sea-beauty!
plural of “shore” — the land along the edge of a body of water
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading stretch’d and basking!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
plural of “wave” — one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
in or at the place that
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
in the company of; together with
From this reading My city’s fit and noble name resumed, Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
Chapter 34 of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman holds 342 sentences, grouped into 69 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 34 holds 342 sentences of Leaves of Grass, unabridged, divided into 69 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 34 of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 342 sentences, grouped into 69 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 69 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 69 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 34 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.
