Chapter 1 of The Hero is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Hero is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves." _"Alfred": a Masque. By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!" _"Sophonisba": a Tragedy.
Chapter 1 of The Hero is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 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.
king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899)
From this reading “_"Alfred": a Masque.”
plural of “briton” — a native or inhabitant of Great Britain
From this reading “Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."”
a Stuart king of Scotland who married a daughter of Henry VII; when England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England and died in defeat at Flodden (1473-1513)
From this reading “By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"”
a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
From this reading “"Rule, Britannia!”
plural of “slave” — a person who is owned by someone
From this reading “Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."”
United States composer who collaborated with Gertrude Stein (1896-1989)
From this reading “By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"”
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
From this reading “_"Sophonisba": a Tragedy.”
plural of “wave” — one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
From this reading “Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."”
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 _"Alfred": a Masque.
king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899)
From this reading _"Alfred": a Masque.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Rule, Britannia!
plural of “briton” — a native or inhabitant of Great Britain
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
showing who or what does the action
From this reading By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"
a Stuart king of Scotland who married a daughter of Henry VII; when England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England and died in defeat at Flodden (1473-1513)
From this reading By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"
a party of guests wearing costumes and masks
From this reading _"Alfred": a Masque.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
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 By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"
a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
From this reading "Rule, Britannia!
plural of “slave” — a person who is owned by someone
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
United States composer who collaborated with Gertrude Stein (1896-1989)
From this reading By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!"
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
From this reading _"Sophonisba": a Tragedy.
plural of “wave” — one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."
Chapter 1 of The Hero by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham holds 419 sentences, grouped into 84 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 1 holds 419 sentences of The Hero, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Hero by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 419 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 1 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 Hero by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4952 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #27063 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #27063, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 412 minutes of reading across 991 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Hero section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The Hero 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 Hero, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
