Captain Blood: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17
H1. Readability score per chapter. Count
Flesch reading ease for the whole book is about 69 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
9,447 different words. On average 52 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 4,015 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
blood, captain, colonel, lordship, bishop. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 14.45 words ending in 'ly' and 9.96 likely adjectives per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
'ly' words per 1,000, chapter by chapter
H5. Share of weak verbs such as "was" and "had". Count
'Was', 'were', 'had', 'is' and 'are' make up 3.5% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 7.1% of sentences use a passive form such as 'was taken'. (rough estimate from word lists)
H7. Variety of sentence openings. Count
The five most common first words start 29% of sentences: he, the, i, but, and.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| he | 574 |
| the | 459 |
| i | 450 |
| but | 410 |
| and | 320 |
| it | 288 |
| you | 233 |
| blood | 166 |
| his | 151 |
| that | 121 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.76 of its mean on average (higher means a more varied rhythm).
Variation per chapter, chapter by chapter
H9. Similes and metaphors: how many, and of what kind. Both
97 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 0.85 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 4: Yet Peter Blood, who was not only able to bear arms, but trained and skilled in their use, who was certainly no coward, and a papist only when …
Ch 1, para 39: When at last he went forth again, Mrs. Barlow clucking after him like a disgruntled fowl, he found young Pitt smothered in a crowd of scared, half-dressed townsfolk--mostly …
Ch 2, para 20: “Oh, I am to be tender of the lives of these rebels! Odds blood! Do you think it's to benefit his health we're taking him? There's gallows being …
Ch 2, para 38: It was Mr. Blood's turn to sneer. “If your wit were as big as your voice, my dear, it's the great man you'd be by this.”
Ch 2, para 49: “Ye'll be remembering, Captain, that Lord Gildoy will have friends and relatives on the Tory side, who'll have something to say to Colonel Kirke if his lordship should …
Ch 3, para 32: “Come; that's better,” quoth he, and his four scarlet brethren nodded. “If all were as obstinate as his two fellow-rebels, there would never be an end.”
Sabatini uses similes and metaphors extensively, often comparing Blood's journey to classical epics (Odyssey in c1), his emotional state to extremes touching (c20), and his predicament to a fable (c22). Most are elaborate and literary rather than brief.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 20, Ch 22
thus, upon the crupper of that doubly-laden horse, clinging to the belt of his companion, Peter Blood set out upon his Odyssey. (Ch 1, para 42)
Extremes touch, and in touching may for a space become confused, indistinguishable. And the extremes of love and hate were to-night so confused in the soul of Captain Blood that in their fusion they made up a monstrous passion. (Ch 20, para 9)
You conceive the bitterness of his soul. He beheld himself to be as the dog in the fable that had dropped the substance to snatch at a delusive shadow. (Ch 22, para 28)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 52%, sound 33%, touch 10%, taste 3%, smell 2%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 463 |
| sound | 289 |
| touch | 89 |
| taste | 27 |
| smell | 19 |
Sight dominates: ship sails, flags, faces, blood. Sound is secondary: voices, cannon fire, shouting. Touch appears in violence and restraint. Smell and taste are nearly absent, fitting the adventure genre's focus on action over sensory immersion.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 30
A moment more, and up through that cloud to replace the flag of England soared the gold and crimson banner of Castile. And then they understood. (Ch 7, para 94)
Ah, perro ingles!” he shouted, and flung forward to his death. (Ch 8, para 24)
A moment she rocked after her release, then slowly and gradually settled down, the water gurgling and eddying about her topmasts, all that remained visible to mark the spot where she had met her death. (Ch 30, para 31)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
91 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.8 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Repetition of key phrases marks emotional turns: 'thief and pirate' echoes through c20 to 22. Lists of three appear in Blood's titles and ranks. Parallel structures mark Blood's choices: service to James, then France, then William.
Chapters: Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 25, Ch 29
Captain Blood did not hear them; he did not hear anything save the echo of those cruel words which had dubbed him thief and pirate. (Ch 20, para 2)
That offer I rejected, as his lordship will tell you, deeming myself affronted by it. Those of you who have suffered under the rule of King James will understand me. (Ch 21, para 80)
England's,” she corrected him in reproof. “The country is all, sir; the sovereign naught. (Ch 21, para 98)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: whilst, thither, nay, whence, thou, thee.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| whilst | 62 |
| thither | 10 |
| nay | 9 |
| whence | 8 |
| thou | 6 |
| thee | 6 |
| art | 5 |
| thy | 4 |
| anon | 4 |
| hither | 4 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
Sabatini shows Blood's character through action and dialogue rather than summary. His mercy to Don Diego's son, his refusal to kill Bishop, and his restraint of his crew reveal his honour without stating it. Chapter 20 tells his despair directly, breaking this pattern.
Chapters: Ch 10, Ch 15, Ch 23, Ch 20
Never had buccaneers been so rigidly held in hand, never had they been so firmly restrained, never so debarred from the excesses of rapine and lust that were usual in their kind as those who sailed with Captain Blood. (Ch 20, para 5)
Why, nothing sinister, Colonel. Although ye deserve nothing less than that same rope and yardarm, I assure you that it's to be employed only as a last resource. (Ch 23, para 75)
Whatever may lie between me and your uncle, you may be sure that I shall not follow the example he has set me. I shall not abuse my position to prosecute a private vengeance. (Ch 31, para 44)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Action typically precedes description. Chapters open with events (arrest, battle, escape) and weave setting details into movement. Chapter 13's summary of Blood's rise is an exception, pausing to reflect rather than act.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 9, Ch 13
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 2.68 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 73 |
| knew | 50 |
| seemed | 43 |
| saw | 42 |
| heard | 41 |
| watched | 16 |
| realized | 14 |
| wondered | 11 |
| felt | 11 |
| noticed | 5 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from domestic irony (c1 geraniums) to legal severity (c3 trial) to brutal action (c7 to 9) to romantic melancholy (c20, c25). The final chapter returns to lighter irony with the closing joke about poetry.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 3, Ch 9, Ch 20, Ch 25, Ch 31
He had a pleasant, vibrant voice, whose metallic ring was softened and muted by the Irish accent which in all his wanderings he had never lost. (Ch 1, para 17)
Captain Blood did not hear them; he did not hear anything save the echo of those cruel words which had dubbed him thief and pirate. (Ch 20, para 2)
Soon the shrewd Wolverstone discovered that rum was not what ailed Blood. Rum was in itself an effect, and not by any means the cause of the Captain's listless apathy. (Ch 25, para 37)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy is sparse and dry. It comes from Blood's self-deprecating wit ('worth precisely ten pounds'), the absurdity of his situations, and occasional verbal sparring. The final line's pun on 'boedigal' and 'abble-blossoms' is the book's main comic moment.
Chapters: Ch 5, Ch 9, Ch 31
Your uncle's, leastways. Let me present myself. I am called Peter Blood, and I am worth precisely ten pounds. (Ch 5, para 10)
Oh, no, my name is Blood--Captain Peter Blood. This ship, like this handsome suit of clothes, is mine by right of conquest. Just as you, Don Diego, are my prisoner. (Ch 10, para 20)
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