Book Anatomy · Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style 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: 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 68 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
12,103 different words. On average 53 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 5,684 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
angel, clare, marian, dairy, cows. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 14.77 words ending in 'ly' and 8.73 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 7.5% 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 31% of sentences: the, i, she, but, he.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| the | 629 |
| i | 599 |
| she | 443 |
| but | 379 |
| he | 363 |
| it | 324 |
| and | 208 |
| tess | 198 |
| they | 168 |
| you | 166 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.73 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
246 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.63 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 13: “Well it’s true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the profile of your face better. Yes, that’s the d’Urberville nose and chin—a little …
Ch 1, para 17: The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His …
Ch 1, para 37: The lath-like stripling frowned. “Who be you, then, John Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me ‘boy’? You know my name as well as I know yours!”
Ch 2, para 3: This fertile and sheltered tract of country, in which the fields are never brown and the springs never dry, is bounded on the south by the bold chalk …
Ch 2, para 32: “This is a thousand pities,” he said gallantly, to two or three of the girls nearest him, as soon as there was a pause in the dance. “Where …
Ch 3, para 11: As usual, Mrs Durbeyfield was balanced on one foot beside the tub, the other being engaged in the aforesaid business of rocking her youngest child. The cradle-rockers had …
Abundant similes and metaphors throughout, often comparing human states to nature (Tess as 'Adam and Eve', Angel's passion as 'a veil whisked aside'). Many compare beauty to danger, shame to physical marks, and fate to natural forces.
Chapters: Ch 20, Ch 24, Ch 34, Ch 37
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)
A veil had been whisked aside; the tract of each one’s outlook was to have a new horizon thenceforward—for a short time or for a long (Ch 24, para 23)
But the essence of things had changed. (Ch 35, para 2)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 56%, sound 22%, touch 19%, taste 3%, smell 0%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 853 |
| sound | 338 |
| touch | 283 |
| taste | 41 |
| smell | 6 |
All five senses used richly. Sight dominates (mist, light, beauty). Sound appears in music and silence. Touch in physical contact between lovers. Smell in dairy work. Taste barely present. Sensory detail intensifies emotional moments.
Chapters: Ch 20, Ch 23, Ch 24, Ch 28
Minute diamonds of moisture from the mist hung, too, upon Tess’s eyelashes, and drops upon her hair, like seed pearls (Ch 20, para 15)
His lips could not have pronounced more plainly, “It will soon be you and I.” Her comprehension appeared in her face (Ch 23, para 27)
Angel, who was filling the vats with his handful, suddenly ceased, and laid his hands flat upon hers. Her sleeves were rolled far above the elbow, and bending lower he kissed the inside vein of her soft arm. (Ch 28, para 24)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
113 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.75 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Lists of three appear frequently: 'eyes, cheeks, mouth' describing beauty; 'hope, and the invincible instinct towards self-delight' in recovery. Repetition of key phrases like 'too late' and 'irredeemably ruined' reinforces Tess's despair.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 15, Ch 34, Ch 55
She was a fine and handsome girl—not handsomer than some others, possibly—but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape. (Ch 2, para 14)
and some spirit within her rose automatically as the sap in the twigs. It was unexpected youth, surging up anew after its temporary check, and bringing with it hope, and the invincible instinct towards self-delight. (Ch 15, para 11)
He has won me back to him. (Ch 55, para 42)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: twas, thy, thither, whilst, thou, hither.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| twas | 20 |
| thy | 19 |
| thither | 13 |
| whilst | 12 |
| thou | 10 |
| hither | 8 |
| whence | 8 |
| art | 8 |
| thee | 5 |
| ere | 5 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
Hardy shows rather than tells emotional states through action and dialogue. Tess's shame shown through her night walks and avoidance, not stated. Angel's rejection shown through his sleepwalking and silence, not explanation.
Chapters: Ch 13, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 37
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)
But the essence of things had changed. (Ch 35, para 2)
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)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description often precedes action, especially landscape and weather. Chapters open with setting mood before events unfold. The dairy chapters linger on mist and light before Tess and Angel meet.
Chapters: Ch 16, Ch 20, Ch 41, Ch 58
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)
The sky wore, in another colour, the same likeness; a white vacuity of countenance with the lineaments gone. (Ch 43, para 3)
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 5.06 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 182 |
| seemed | 151 |
| heard | 103 |
| knew | 99 |
| felt | 94 |
| saw | 90 |
| noticed | 17 |
| watched | 11 |
| wondered | 10 |
| realized | 7 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from ironic (Durbeyfield's pride) to lyrical (Talbothays) to tragic (separation). Narrator's voice grows darker after chapter 34. Comedy early gives way to relentless fatalism.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 20, Ch 34, Ch 56
the secret is that I’m one of a noble race—it has been just found out by me this present afternoon (Ch 1, para 38)
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)
But the essence of things had changed. (Ch 35, para 2)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy is gentle and ironic early: Durbeyfield's vanity, his wife's matchmaking schemes, the butter that won't churn. It fades after Tess's seduction. Dark humour appears in Alec's false conversion.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 3, Ch 21, Ch 46
the secret is that I’m one of a noble race—it has been just found out by me this present afternoon (Ch 1, para 38)
He is very much interested in ’ee—truth to tell. (Ch 6, para 31)
Jack Dollop, a ’hore’s-bird of a fellow we had here as milker at one time, sir, courted a young woman over at Mellstock, and deceived her (Ch 21, para 11)
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