Chapter 37 of Tarr is here in full — 307 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter 37 of Tarr is here in full — 307 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus. He did not like his job. The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected. He had not meant to leave her altogether. He was just playing.
Chapter 37 of Tarr is here in full — 307 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/61 · 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.
a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport
From this reading “Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.”
past form of “crawl” — move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
From this reading “Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.”
tiresomely long; seemingly without end
From this reading “The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.”
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading “He did not like his job.”
a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
From this reading “The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.”
the act of playing a musical instrument
From this reading “He was just playing.”
(especially of incident sound or light) bent or sent back
From this reading “The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.”
plural of “visit” — the act of going to see some person or place or thing for a short time
From this reading “The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.”
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.
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 Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
(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 The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (“whole” is often used informally for “wholly”)
From this reading He had not meant to leave her altogether.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
past form of “crawl” — move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading He did not like his job.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He did not like his job.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He did not like his job.
tiresomely long; seemingly without end
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading He did not like his job.
and nothing more
From this reading He was just playing.
go away from a place
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading He did not like his job.
inflected form of “mean” — mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading He did not like his job.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
the act of playing a musical instrument
From this reading He was just playing.
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
(especially of incident sound or light) bent or sent back
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
in the direction of
From this reading Tarr crawled towards Bertha that day on the back of a Place St. Michel bus.
plural of “visit” — the act of going to see some person or place or thing for a short time
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The secret of his visits to Bertha and interminable liaison was that he really never had meant to leave her at all, he reflected.
Chapter 37 of Tarr by Wyndham Lewis holds 307 sentences, grouped into 62 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 37 holds 307 sentences of Tarr, unabridged, divided into 62 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 37 of Tarr by Wyndham Lewis exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 307 sentences, grouped into 62 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 62 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 62 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 37 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 Tarr by Wyndham Lewis on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8072 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #58340 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #58340, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1615 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tarr section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 38 chapters of Tarr 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 Tarr, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
