---
title: He had loved to hear the cuckoo calling in the spring from the tree… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He had loved to hear the cuckoo calling in the spring from the tree that is highest in the hedge, or the blackbird’s jolly whistle in an autumn bush, or the thin, sweet enchantment that comes to the mind when a lark thrills out of sight in the air and the hushed fields listen to the song. Who acts: 
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/34/61/)

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter II, sentence 61

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He had loved to hear the cuckoo calling in the spring from the tree that is highest in the hedge, or the blackbird’s jolly whistle in an autumn bush, or the thin, sweet enchantment that comes to the mind when a lark thrills out of sight in the air and the hushed fields listen to the song.

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**Who acts:** Saeve, cuckoo, that, thin sweet enchantment, lark, hushed fields · **What happens:** love, hear, call, be, come, thrill · **To what, where:** jolly whistle, cuckoo, tree, mind, sight, autumn bush · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter II. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Saeve, cuckoo, that, thin sweet enchantment), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg2892:34:61
# text = He had loved to hear the cuckoo calling in the spring from the tree that is highest in the hedge, or the blackbird’s jolly whistle in an autumn bush, or the thin, sweet enchantment that comes to the mind when a lark thrills out of sight in the air and the hushed fields listen to the song.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	loved	love	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cuckoo	cuckoo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	xcomp	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	hedge	hedge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	blackbird	blackbird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’s	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	jolly	jolly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
35	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
37	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	enchantment	enchantment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
44	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	47	mark	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	lark	lark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	thrills	thrill	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
48	out	out	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	hushed	hush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	amod	_	_
57	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nsubj	_	_
58	listen	listen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | past · perfect | Saeve | the blackbird's jolly whistle in a autumn bush or the thin sweet enchantment |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Saeve *not said here* | the cuckoo |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **call** | gerund | the cuckoo *not said here* |  |  |  | spring |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | that |  |  | the tree |  | in the hedge; high *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** | present | the thin sweet enchantment |  |  | the mind |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to mind=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **thrill** | present | a lark |  |  | sight |  | in the air | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **hush** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **listen** | present | the hushed fields |  |  |  |  | to the song | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to song=Theme |
| 9 | **whistle** |  | the blackbird |  |  | a autumn bush |  |  | nom whistle «event intransitive»: poss=agent in=place |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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- ← previous: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/34/60/)
- next →: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/34/62/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter II](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/34/)