Book Anatomy · The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. 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 79 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
6,874 different words. On average 51 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 3,309 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
henry, harry, gray, lord, basil. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 12.18 words ending in 'ly' and 12.72 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 4.3% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 4.5% 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 38% of sentences: i, he, the, it, you.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| i | 817 |
| he | 499 |
| the | 399 |
| it | 373 |
| you | 356 |
| but | 182 |
| she | 159 |
| there | 144 |
| what | 134 |
| they | 127 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.79 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
100 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.26 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 2: From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the …
Ch 1, para 33: The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac-blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and fro in the languid air. A grasshopper began to …
Ch 1, para 65: “Days in summer, Basil, are apt to linger,” murmured Lord Henry. “Perhaps you will tire sooner than he will. It is a sad thing to think of, but …
Ch 2, para 9: Lord Henry looked at him. Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something …
Ch 2, para 25: “Just turn your head a little more to the right, Dorian, like a good boy,” said the painter, deep in his work and conscious only that a look …
Ch 2, para 29: Music had stirred him like that. Music had troubled him many times. But music was not articulate. It was not a new world, but rather another chaos, that …
The novel uses metaphors extensively, especially comparing the portrait to a mirror of the soul (quote 23), sins to a worm in a corpse (quote 29), and beauty as a mask hiding corruption. Similes appear less frequently but include comparisons of Dorian's influence to poison (quote 34).
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 7, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 13
It held the secret of his life, and told his story. It had taught him to love his own beauty. Would it teach him to loathe his own soul? (Ch 7, para 56)
What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas. (Ch 10, para 11)
Dorian Gray had been poisoned by a book. There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful. (Ch 11, para 36)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 60%, sound 19%, touch 17%, taste 2%, smell 2%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 563 |
| sound | 181 |
| touch | 161 |
| taste | 23 |
| smell | 18 |
Sight dominates throughout, especially descriptions of beauty, the portrait's changes, and Dorian's youthful appearance. Smell appears in the opening (roses, lilac) and during Basil's murder (quote 39). Sound features in discussions of music and theatre. Touch and taste are minimal.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15
There was a horrible smell of nitric acid in the room. But the thing that had been sitting at the table was gone. (Ch 14, para 94)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
51 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.64 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Lists of three appear in Dorian's aesthetic pursuits (perfumes, music, jewels, chapter 11) and in Lord Henry's witty pronouncements. Repetition of key phrases like 'youth' (quote 6) and 'influence' (quote 5) reinforces themes. The pattern of Dorian's moral decline repeats across chapters.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 5, Ch 11, Ch 19
There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral—immoral from the scientific point of view. (Ch 2, para 22)
Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth! (Ch 2, para 48)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: art, thou, thee, doth, ere, nay.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| art | 67 |
| thou | 2 |
| thee | 1 |
| doth | 1 |
| ere | 1 |
| nay | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
Wilde shows rather than tells through dialogue and scene. Dorian's callousness about Sibyl's death is shown through his actions in chapter 8, not stated. The portrait's corruption is revealed visually in chapters 7, 12, and 20 rather than described directly.
Chapters: Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 20
An exclamation of horror broke from the painter’s lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the canvas grinning at him. (Ch 13, para 9)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is woven into action rather than preceding it. Chapter 1 opens with sensory detail of the studio, but immediately introduces Lord Henry and Basil in conversation. The portrait is described as it is being discussed and viewed, not in isolation.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 7
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 5.61 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| seemed | 119 |
| thought | 82 |
| felt | 76 |
| knew | 48 |
| saw | 44 |
| heard | 37 |
| watched | 20 |
| wondered | 12 |
| realized | 4 |
| noticed | 3 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from witty and urbane in early chapters with Lord Henry's philosophy to increasingly dark and fearful as Dorian's crimes mount. Chapter 13 marks a sharp turn to horror. The final chapters balance Dorian's terror with moments of false hope before the tragic ending.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 8, Ch 13, Ch 15, Ch 20
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy works through Lord Henry's paradoxical wit and epigrams (quotes 1, 5, 6), which undercut conventional morality. The humour becomes darker as the novel progresses, with ironic contrasts between Dorian's beautiful appearance and his hidden corruption creating grim comedy.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 6, Ch 11
there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. (Ch 1, para 7)
There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral—immoral from the scientific point of view. (Ch 2, para 22)
Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth! (Ch 2, para 48)
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