Chapter 1 of The iron heel is here in full — 354 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The iron heel is here in full — 354 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees. It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless. It is the quiet that makes me restless. It seems unreal.
Chapter 1 of The iron heel is here in full — 354 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/70 · 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.
third-person singular of “arise” — come into existence; take on form or shape
From this reading “There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.”
plural of “cadence” — (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
From this reading “The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.”
overgrown with moss
From this reading “The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.”
reflect deeply on a subject
From this reading “It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.”
plural of “redwood” — the soft reddish wood of either of two species of sequoia trees
From this reading “The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.”
plural of “ripple” — a small wave on the surface of a liquid
From this reading “The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.”
plural of “stir” — a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event
From this reading “The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.”
lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria
From this reading “It seems unreal.”
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.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
third-person singular of “arise” — come into existence; take on form or shape
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
plural of “bee” — any of numerous hairy-bodied insects including social and solitary species
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
plural of “butterfly” — diurnal insect typically having a slender body with knobbed antennae and broad colorful wings
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
plural of “cadence” — (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
half asleep
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
to or in any or all places
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
sing with closed lips
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
plural of “make” — a recognizable kind
From this reading It is the quiet that makes me restless.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading It is the quiet that makes me restless.
overgrown with moss
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
above and across; more than
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
reflect deeply on a subject
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
plural of “redwood” — the soft reddish wood of either of two species of sequoia trees
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
worried and uneasy
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
plural of “ripple” — a small wave on the surface of a liquid
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
third-person singular of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading It seems unreal.
be seated
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless.
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
plural of “stir” — a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
plural of “stone” — a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
the warmest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
the rays of the sun
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It is the quiet that makes me restless.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees.
lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria
From this reading It seems unreal.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones.
Chapter 1 of The iron heel by Jack London holds 354 sentences, grouped into 71 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 1 holds 354 sentences of The iron heel, unabridged, divided into 71 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The iron heel by Jack London exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 354 sentences, grouped into 71 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 71 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 71 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 iron heel by Jack London on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5889 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1164 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1164, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 490 minutes of reading across 1178 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The iron heel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of The iron heel 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 iron heel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
