Chapter 10 of Modern American Poetry is here in full — 376 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter X
Chapter 10 of Modern American Poetry is here in full — 376 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where? Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware! There all the bright streams run up-hill. The birds on every tree are still. But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
Chapter 10 of Modern American Poetry is here in full — 376 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/75 · 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.
be on one's guard; be cautious or wary about; be alert to
From this reading “Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!”
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading “The birds on every tree are still.”
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading “But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.”
a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral
From this reading “HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?”
a frame that supports a boat while it is under construction
From this reading “But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.”
plural of “stone” — a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading “But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.”
plural of “stream” — a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
From this reading “There all the bright streams run up-hill.”
plural of “voice” — the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading “But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.”
In this reading “HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?”
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 Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!
(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 There all the bright streams run up-hill.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The birds on every tree are still.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
be on one's guard; be cautious or wary about; be alert to
From this reading Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading The birds on every tree are still.
emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts
From this reading There all the bright streams run up-hill.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
discover or come upon accidentally, suddenly, or unexpectedly; catch somebody doing something or in a certain state
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
rid of obstructions
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
(used of hooves) split, divided
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading The birds on every tree are still.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
a visible impression on a surface made by the hoof of an animal
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
moving to the inside of something
From this reading Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
the land on which real estate is located
From this reading Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!
take somebody somewhere
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions
From this reading Into a phantasmagoric land— Beware!
move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading There all the bright streams run up-hill.
a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
not in physical motion
From this reading The birds on every tree are still.
a frame that supports a boat while it is under construction
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
plural of “stone” — a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
plural of “stream” — a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
From this reading There all the bright streams run up-hill.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
in or at that place or location
From this reading There all the bright streams run up-hill.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading The birds on every tree are still.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There all the bright streams run up-hill.
plural of “voice” — the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading But from stocks and stones, clear voices come That should be dumb.
in or at the place that
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading HOW TO CATCH UNICORNS Its cloven hoofprint on the sand Will lead you—where?
Chapter 10 of Modern American Poetry by Louis [Editor] Untermeyer holds 376 sentences, grouped into 76 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 10 holds 376 sentences of Modern American Poetry, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 10 of Modern American Poetry by Louis [Editor] Untermeyer exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 376 sentences, grouped into 76 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 76 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 76 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 10 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 Modern American Poetry by Louis [Editor] Untermeyer on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3972 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #58992 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #58992, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 331 minutes of reading across 795 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Modern American Poetry section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of Modern American Poetry 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 Modern American Poetry, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
