Chapter 5 of The Desert of Wheat is here in full — 405 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Desert of Wheat is here in full — 405 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore. The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant. The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth. It was not possible to be morbid at dawn. "I hear!
Chapter 5 of The Desert of Wheat is here in full — 405 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
aroused or activated
From this reading “Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.”
the first light of day
From this reading “The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.”
pleasant-smelling
From this reading “The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.”
suggesting an unhealthy mental state
From this reading “It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.”
reflecting optimism
From this reading “The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.”
an elevated geological formation
From this reading “The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.”
past form of “stream” — to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind
From this reading “The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.”
in an affectionate or loving manner (“sweet” is sometimes a poetic or informal variant of “sweetly”)
From this reading “The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.”
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 The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
(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 wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
aroused or activated
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
the first light of day
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
pleasant-smelling
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
coins made of gold
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading "I hear!
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "I hear!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
suggesting an unhealthy mental state
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
To move from a closed position.
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
capable of happening or existing
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
reflecting optimism
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
the act of singing vocal music
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
an elevated geological formation
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
past form of “stream” — to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
in an affectionate or loving manner (“sweet” is sometimes a poetic or informal variant of “sweetly”)
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The dawn streamed in bright and sweetly fragrant.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was not possible to be morbid at dawn.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading Singing of birds at her window awakened Lenore.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
a young person (especially a young man or boy)
From this reading The wheat-fields seemed a rosy gold, and all that open slope called to her thrillingly of the beauty of the world and the happiness of youth.
Chapter 5 of The Desert of Wheat by Zane Grey holds 405 sentences, grouped into 81 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 5 holds 405 sentences of The Desert of Wheat, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Desert of Wheat by Zane Grey exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 405 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 5 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 The Desert of Wheat by Zane Grey on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 9875 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #10201 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #10201, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1975 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Desert of Wheat section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 31 chapters of The Desert of Wheat 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 The Desert of Wheat, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
