Is Heart of Darkness hard to read? Its reading level from A1 to C2
How many words in every 100 you will probably not know, at each level from A1 to C2. Estimated over the whole book with Solaread’s own word-difficulty model.
- Author
- Joseph Conrad
- First published
- 1899
- Length
- About 38,100 words
- Copyright
- Public domain
Short answer
Just right only at C2: 3.9 new words in every 100. At B1 it is too hard, 12.2 in 100. It is the third hardest of the 20 English classics we measured.
New words per 100, by level
Estimated over all 38,136 running words. Character names are left out. The labels follow Solaread’s difficulty scale: Easy means knowing 98 of every 100 words, Just right 95, A little hard 90, and below that Too hard.
Heart of Darkness vocabulary by level
At A2
- pilgrim33×
- ivory30×
- glance26×
- silence28×
- suddenly35×
- cry30×
- darkness25×
- wilderness22×
- savage22×
- bush25×
- whisper21×
- seem79×
The 12 words an A2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 3% of the new words at this level.
At B1
- pilgrim33×
- ivory30×
- glance26×
- steamer19×
- whisper21×
- steamboat18×
- chap19×
- wilderness22×
- vanish13×
- savage22×
- rivet12×
- shutter12×
The 12 words a B1 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 5% of the new words at this level.
At B2
- pilgrim33×
- steamboat18×
- steamer19×
- rivet12×
- chap19×
- vanish13×
- murmur10×
- murmured10×
- snag11×
- somber10×
- pilot-house9×
- stillness9×
The 12 words a B2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 5% of the new words at this level.
The opening lines
The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.
The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits.
Open the free EPUB in Solaread and the words it marks follow your own level, with glosses in the language you choose.
Books with a similar level
- The Time Machine11.7 new words per 100 at B1
- Jane Eyre12.0 at B1
- Wuthering Heights12.1 at B1
Questions
Is Heart of Darkness hard to read?
At B1 it is too hard, with 12.2 new words in every 100 (about one in 8). It is just right only at C2.
What is the reading level of Heart of Darkness?
On Solaread’s scale it is just right only at C2, and the third hardest of the 20 English classics we measured. At B2, 8.1 in every 100 words are new.
Where can I get Heart of Darkness for free?
It is in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has a free EPUB you can import into Solaread.
Read it with help only where you need it
Import the free EPUB. Solaread marks the words you probably don’t know, at your level.