Chapter 6 of The Poetaster is here in full — 390 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of The Poetaster is here in full — 390 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Tib. A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song! Cris. Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry. Tuc.
Chapter 6 of The Poetaster is here in full — 390 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/78 · 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.
past form of “bait” — harass with persistent criticism or carping
From this reading “A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!”
the child of your aunt or uncle
From this reading “Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.”
an analytic or interpretive literary composition
From this reading “Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.”
an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man
From this reading “Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.”
literature in metrical form
From this reading “Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.”
a short musical composition with words
From this reading “A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!”
informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading “A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!”
distant but within sight (“yon” is dialectal)
From this reading “A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!”
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 A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
past form of “bait” — harass with persistent criticism or carping
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
the child of your aunt or uncle
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cris.
an analytic or interpretive literary composition
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
an old form of “has”
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
used to form the superlative
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
literature in metrical form
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship; say a prayer
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
a short musical composition with words
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
a unit of information equal to 1024 gibibytes or 2^40 (1,099,511,627,776) bytes
From this reading Tib.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tuc.
any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
in the company of; together with
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
distant but within sight (“yon” is dialectal)
From this reading A most subtile wench! how she hath baited him with a viol yonder, for a song!
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Cousin, 'pray you call mistress Chloe! she shall hear an essay of my poetry.
Chapter 6 of The Poetaster by Ben Jonson holds 390 sentences, grouped into 78 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 6 holds 390 sentences of The Poetaster, unabridged, divided into 78 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of The Poetaster by Ben Jonson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 390 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 6 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 Poetaster by Ben Jonson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3491 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #5166 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #5166, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 290 minutes of reading across 699 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Poetaster section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 9 chapters of The Poetaster 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 Poetaster, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
