Classics Retold

In chapter 3 of Great Expectations, when Pip goes to marshes with wittles and a file, there he meets a new convict. He is alarmed at the sight of a boy. Pip writes "he swore an oath at me"  In older English it could mean he cursed at me, or uttered a profane or blasphemous language.  Dickens uses an older expression "swore an oath", which was common in nineteenth-century English. 

In chapter 3 of Great Expectations, "felt hat simply means a hat made of felt, a fabric produced by compressing wool or animal fur. During the Victorian period felt hats were common among working people. The hat could have different shapes. 

Here the key word is larks. In the 19th century a lark meant a heavy adventure, a bit of fun or playful enjoyment.  Joe is looking forward to the time when Pip becomes his apprentice in the blacksmith's forge.  Under the apprentice system

In Chapter 3 of Great Expectations,  "the black ox with white cravat on" is a humorous and imaginative description: The black ox is an ox with black fur.  The white patch of fur around his neck, which looks like a gentleman's cravat ( a neck-cloth worn in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the forerunner of modern neck-tie) Dickens often describes animals as it they were people.  Here Dickens gives the ox a slightly dignified, but comical appearance. The comparison reflects the lively imagination of Pip.  There is a subtle contrast of different moods.  The ox  calmly grazing in the marshes appears respectable and harmless.  Pip is guilty conscience after stealing food from his sister's pantry. 

Goblin is a character in European folklore. A a grotesque dwarf, with large ears and furry body. He plays pranks, steal small items, hide in houses or dark caves.  Mean and mischievous.  The word originated from old French and Greek words 

Rimy means covered in frost.  Thin white layer of ice that forms when the air temperature is below the freezing point of water especially outside at night. 

My sister Mrs Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation that she had brought me up 'by hand.' Having at that time to find out for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up by hand.  She was not a good looking woman, my sister; and I had a general impression that she must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand.  Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites.  He was a mild, good natured, sweet tempered, easy going, foolish, dear fellow --- a sort of  Hercules in strength, and also in weakness.  My sister Mrs Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin, that I sometimes used to wonde...