Chapter 23 of The Silver Poppy is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The Silver Poppy is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
TATTERED COLORS ... We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall! JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice." "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn. The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
Chapter 23 of The Silver Poppy is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/44 · 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.
a shaft on which a wheel rotates
From this reading “The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."”
a flag that shows its nationality
From this reading “TATTERED COLORS ...”
a thick fatty oil (especially one used to lubricate machinery)
From this reading “The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."”
English philosopher who introduced the theory of the association of ideas (1705-1757)
From this reading “JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice."”
plural of “leap” — a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
From this reading “We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!”
with regret (used in polite formulas)
From this reading “We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!”
worn to shreds; or wearing torn or ragged clothing
From this reading “TATTERED COLORS ...”
past form of “venture” — proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
From this reading “"But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.”
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.
In this reading “The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."”
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.
later than; following
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
(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 We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
past form of “answer” — react verbally
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
a shaft on which a wheel rotates
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
a young person of either sex
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
a flag that shows its nationality
From this reading TATTERED COLORS ...
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
divisible by two
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
the state or fact of existing
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
plural of “god” — the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
a thick fatty oil (especially one used to lubricate machinery)
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
English philosopher who introduced the theory of the association of ideas (1705-1757)
From this reading JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
From this reading JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice."
plural of “leap” — a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
without good reason
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered
From this reading JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice."
a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
advanced in years; (“aged” is pronounced as two syllables)
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
with regret (used in polite formulas)
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
past form of “sigh” — heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
a short musical composition with words
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
sorrowful through loss or deprivation
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
not in physical motion
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
worn to shreds; or wearing torn or ragged clothing
From this reading TATTERED COLORS ...
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
past form of “venture” — proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading JOHN HARTLEY, "The Lost Voice."
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We see The sorrowing gods regretfully Bar out the bird, but after all How lightly song still leaps the wall!
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading "But, after all, even without love, life is life," ventured Evelyn.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
an affirmative
From this reading The older woman sighed as she answered: "Yes, it is life, my child, but it is the axle of existence without grease."
Chapter 23 of The Silver Poppy by Arthur Stringer holds 222 sentences, grouped into 45 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 23 holds 222 sentences of The Silver Poppy, unabridged, divided into 45 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The Silver Poppy by Arthur Stringer exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 222 sentences, grouped into 45 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 45 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 45 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 Silver Poppy by Arthur Stringer on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3544 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #42184 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #42184, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 295 minutes of reading across 709 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Silver Poppy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of The Silver Poppy 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 Silver Poppy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
