Chapter 8 of When the Owl Cries is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of When the Owl Cries is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
He struggled with his left boot. What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes? As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface. The smile smiles and the eyes hide something. We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
Chapter 8 of When the Owl Cries is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
footwear that covers the whole foot and lower leg
From this reading “He struggled with his left boot.”
plural of “bubble” — a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)
From this reading “What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?”
release from entanglement of difficulty
From this reading “We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.”
plural of “emotion” — any strong feeling
From this reading “We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.”
dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.)
From this reading “As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.”
plural of “smile” — a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading “The smile smiles and the eyes hide something.”
past form of “struggle” — make a strenuous or labored effort
From this reading “He struggled with his left boot.”
the act of swimming
From this reading “As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.”
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 “We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.”
In this reading “We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.”
In this reading “He struggled with his left boot.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
footwear that covers the whole foot and lower leg
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
plural of “bubble” — a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
release from entanglement of difficulty
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
plural of “emotion” — any strong feeling
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
opinion or judgment
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
prevent from being seen or discovered
From this reading The smile smiles and the eyes hide something.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
past form of “live” — be an inhabitant of or reside in
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
not compact or dense in structure or arrangement
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “as” or “too” or “so” or “that”; amounting to a large but indefinite number
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.)
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading The smile smiles and the eyes hide something.
plural of “smile” — a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading The smile smiles and the eyes hide something.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading The smile smiles and the eyes hide something.
past form of “struggle” — make a strenuous or labored effort
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
the act of swimming
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading As if the pigment had broken loose and was swimming to the surface.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What are the bubbles of fear behind her eyes?
in the company of; together with
From this reading He struggled with his left boot.
a late time of life
From this reading We've lived too many years together to disentangle our emotions.
Chapter 8 of When the Owl Cries by Paul Alexander Bartlett holds 414 sentences, grouped into 83 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 8 holds 414 sentences of When the Owl Cries, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of When the Owl Cries by Paul Alexander Bartlett exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 414 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 8 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 When the Owl Cries by Paul Alexander Bartlett on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6192 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #40245 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #40245, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 516 minutes of reading across 1239 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through When the Owl Cries section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of When the Owl Cries 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 When the Owl Cries, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
