Chapter 2 of Love Songs is here in full — 162 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Love Songs is here in full — 162 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine. "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears? Was not the body dear to you?" I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue." VI.
Chapter 2 of Love Songs is here in full — 162 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
possessive form of “body” — the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading “These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.”
without care or concern
From this reading “I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."”
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading “These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.”
pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading “I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."”
plural of “lily” — any liliaceous plant of the genus Lilium having showy pendulous flowers
From this reading “These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.”
widely cultivated as a groundcover for its dark green shiny leaves and usually blue-violet flowers
From this reading “I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."”
wither, as with a loss of moisture
From this reading “These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.”
a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface
From this reading “These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading Was not the body dear to you?"
possessive form of “body” — the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
without care or concern
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
dearly loved
From this reading Was not the body dear to you?"
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
cause to move by pulling
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
start firing a weapon
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
plural of “flower” — a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
plural of “lily” — any liliaceous plant of the genus Lilium having showy pendulous flowers
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
engage in
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the one or ones belonging to the person speaking
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
widely cultivated as a groundcover for its dark green shiny leaves and usually blue-violet flowers
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
not any; not one
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
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 Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
express in words
From this reading I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue."
wither, as with a loss of moisture
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
the process of shedding tears (usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds)
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Was not the body dear to you?"
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the plural of “this”: the people or things near, or just mentioned
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one
From this reading VI.
a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Was not the body dear to you?"
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears?
Chapter 2 of Love Songs by Sara Teasdale holds 162 sentences, grouped into 33 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 2 holds 162 sentences of Love Songs, unabridged, divided into 33 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Love Songs by Sara Teasdale exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 162 sentences, grouped into 33 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 33 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 33 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 2 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 Love Songs by Sara Teasdale on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 301 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #442 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #442, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 25 minutes of reading across 61 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Love Songs section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of Love Songs 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 Love Songs, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
