Chapter 23 of The Dynasts is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The Dynasts is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BUSSY I can only say What's not the news. The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty. She writes no more. SECRETARY And never will again! In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
Chapter 23 of The Dynasts is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/77 · 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 “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading “In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.”
a person who carries a message
From this reading “The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.”
a woman emperor or the wife of an emperor
From this reading “The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.”
inflected form of “forsake” — leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
From this reading “In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.”
a structure in which animals lay eggs or give birth to their young
From this reading “In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.”
a person who is head of an administrative department of government
From this reading “SECRETARY And never will again!”
the capital and largest city of Austria; located on the Danube in northeastern Austria; was the home of Beethoven and Brahms and Haydn and Mozart and Schubert and Strauss
From this reading “The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.”
third-person singular of “write” — produce a literary work
From this reading “She writes no more.”
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.
anew
From this reading SECRETARY And never will again!
(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 In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading SECRETARY And never will again!
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
possessive form of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
a person who carries a message
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
a woman emperor or the wife of an emperor
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
inflected form of “forsake” — leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
and nothing more
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
impressiveness in scale or proportion
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading She writes no more.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
a structure in which animals lay eggs or give birth to their young
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading SECRETARY And never will again!
information about recent and important events
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
not any; not one
From this reading She writes no more.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
and nothing more
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
(usually preceded by “in”) a detail or point
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
express in words
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
a person who is head of an administrative department of government
From this reading SECRETARY And never will again!
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She writes no more.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading In my regard That bird's forsook the nest for good and all.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
the capital and largest city of Austria; located on the Danube in northeastern Austria; was the home of Beethoven and Brahms and Haydn and Mozart and Schubert and Strauss
From this reading The courier has just told me He'd nothing from the Empress at Vienna To bring his Majesty.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BUSSY I can only say What's not the news.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading SECRETARY And never will again!
third-person singular of “write” — produce a literary work
From this reading She writes no more.
Chapter 23 of The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy holds 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 23 holds 388 sentences of The Dynasts, unabridged, divided into 78 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 78 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 78 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 23 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 Dynasts by Thomas Hardy on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 9483 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #4043 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #4043, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1897 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Dynasts section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of The Dynasts 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 Dynasts, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
