Book Anatomy · Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Pace
16 lenses on pace for Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. 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: D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10 D11 D12 D13 D14 D15 D16
D1. Chapter length in words, as a chart. Count
59 chapters, median 2,475 words. See the full lens on the book page.
D2. Mean sentence length per chapter. Count
Mean 19.3 words. See the full lens on the book page.
D3. Paragraph length per chapter. Count
Paragraphs average 47 words.
Mean paragraph words, chapter by chapter
D4. Scene against summary: how much is shown live? AI
Most of the book is shown live in scenes. Chapters 1 to 2, 15 to 16, and 49 use summary, but the majority of plot unfolds through dialogue and action in rooms, fields, and roads.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 49
D5. Action against reflection, per chapter. AI
Early chapters (4 to 14) balance action with Tess's internal shame. Middle chapters (17 to 34) favour reflection on love and doubt. Later chapters (41 to 59) return to action as Tess flees and is hunted.
Chapters: Ch 4, Ch 14, Ch 17, Ch 34, Ch 41, Ch 59
But so far was she from being, in the words of Robert South, “in love with her own ruin,” that the illusion was transient as lightning (Ch 13, para 6)
Tess and Clare unconsciously studied each other, ever balanced on the edge of a passion, yet apparently keeping out of it (Ch 20, para 3)
What arrested him now as of value in life was less its beauty than its pathos. Having long discredited the old systems of mysticism, he now began to discredit the old appraisements of morality (Ch 49, para 9)
D6. Tension score per chapter (1 to 5) as a curve. AI
Peak 5 of 5, mean 3.6. See the full lens on the book page.
D7. Emotional arc of the whole book, matched to the six shapes. Count
Riches to rags (fall). See the full lens on the book page.
D8. Chapter endings: cliffhanger, question, reveal or quiet close. AI
37 of 59 chapters end on a hook. See the full lens on the book page.
D9. Chapter openings: in scene, in summary, or after a time jump. AI
Most chapters open in scene. Chapters 15 to 16, 25, 39, 49, 53 to 54 open after time jumps, signalled by phrases like 'eight months later' or 'Angel, in Brazil'. Chapter 18 opens in summary of Angel's background.
Chapters: Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 18, Ch 25, Ch 39, Ch 49
D10. Do chapters and sentences get shorter near the climax? Count
In the last fifth, chapters run at 0.79 times the length of earlier ones, and sentences at 0.98 times. So things speed up near the end.
D11. Dialogue density against pace. Count
Link between dialogue share and chapter length: 0.12 (1 is a perfect match, 0 none). Between dialogue share and tension: 0.1.
Dialogue % per chapter, chapter by chapter
D12. Time jumps and how they are signalled. Both
28 time jump phrases in the narration, such as 'next morning' or 'years later'.
| Where | Phrase |
|---|---|
| c4p38 | next morning |
| c4p91 | next day |
| c5p14 | next day |
| c9p4 | next morning |
| c10p2 | next morning |
| c10p51 | next day |
| c12p2 | four months after |
| c13p7 | next morning |
Time jump phrases, chapter by chapter
Ch 4, para 38: It was eleven o’clock before the family were all in bed, and two o’clock next morning was the latest hour for starting with the beehives if they were …
Ch 4, para 91: He worked harder the next day in digging a grave for Prince in the garden than he had worked for months to grow a crop for his family. …
Ch 5, para 14: Rising early next day she walked to the hill-town called Shaston, and there took advantage of a van which twice in the week ran from Shaston eastward to …
Ch 9, para 4: When Tess had occupied herself about an hour the next morning in altering and improving the arrangements, according to her skilled ideas as the daughter of a professed …
Ch 10, para 2: The chief pleasure of these philosophers lay in going every Saturday night, when work was done, to Chaseborough, a decayed market-town two or three miles distant; and, returning …
Ch 10, para 51: Tess was indignant and ashamed. She no longer minded the loneliness of the way and the lateness of the hour; her one object was to get away from …
Time jumps are signalled explicitly: 'four months after' (c12), 'eight months later' (c41), 'five days' (c58). Some are marked by seasonal change or narrator comment. The longest gap is between c37 and c41.
Chapters: Ch 12, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 41, Ch 49, Ch 58
instead of a bride with boxes and trunks which others bore, we see her a lonely woman with a basket and a bundle in her own porterage (Ch 41, para 1)
D13. Info dump spots: long runs with no action or speech. Both
7 stretches of 900 words or more with no speech at all. These are where description, summary or backstory pile up.
| Starts at | Words | Paragraphs |
|---|---|---|
| c40p88 | 2002 | 21 |
| c49p4 | 1713 | 19 |
| c25p22 | 1659 | 12 |
| c44p40 | 1302 | 18 |
| c23p73 | 1288 | 15 |
| c37p11 | 1067 | 11 |
| c5p14 | 987 | 10 |
Long reflection runs occur in c13 (Tess's shame and night walks), c18 (Angel's background and philosophy), c39 (Angel's torment in Brazil), and c49 (Angel's moral reckoning). These are 2 to 4 pages without dialogue.
Chapters: Ch 13, Ch 18, Ch 39, Ch 49
But so far was she from being, in the words of Robert South, “in love with her own ruin,” that the illusion was transient as lightning (Ch 13, para 6)
I should prefer not to take Orders. I fear I could not conscientiously do so. I love the Church as one loves a parent (Ch 18, para 19)
What arrested him now as of value in life was less its beauty than its pathos. Having long discredited the old systems of mysticism, he now began to discredit the old appraisements of morality (Ch 49, para 9)
D14. Reading time per chapter. Count
About 10.1 hours to read at 250 words a minute. The longest chapter takes 18.9 minutes.
Minutes per chapter, chapter by chapter
D15. Micro tension in quiet scenes. AI
Quiet scenes gain tension through unspoken feeling. Chapters 19 to 20 show Tess and Angel suspended between friendship and love. Chapter 37 has Angel sleepwalking with Tess in danger. Chapter 58 at Stonehenge builds dread as police close in.
Chapters: Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 37, Ch 58
Tess and Clare unconsciously studied each other, ever balanced on the edge of a passion, yet apparently keeping out of it (Ch 20, para 3)
The spectral, half-compounded, aqueous light which pervaded the open mead impressed them with a feeling of isolation, as if they were Adam and Eve (Ch 20, para 8)
She saw the door of her bedroom open, and the figure of her husband crossed the stream of moonlight with a curiously careful tread. (Ch 37, para 2)
D16. Section breaks per chapter. Count
0 section breaks marked in the text, in 0 of 59 chapters.
Ask Tess of the d'Urbervilles a question about its craft (free beta)
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