---
title: “It is well to rejoice and be merry,” said the steadfast Minstrel, “… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “It is well to rejoice and be merry,” said the steadfast Minstrel, “but we are still upon the uncertain sea, we are still far away from our own safe home land.” Who acts: gladness, steadfast Minstrel, we. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Flight, with it
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Flight, sentence 157

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“It is well to rejoice and be merry,” said the steadfast Minstrel, “but we are still upon the uncertain sea, we are still far away from our own safe home land.”

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**Who acts:** gladness, steadfast Minstrel, we · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** own safe home land · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Flight. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gladness, steadfast Minstrel, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66819:36:157
# text = “It is well to rejoice and be merry,” said the steadfast Minstrel, “but we are still upon the uncertain sea, we are still far away from our own safe home land.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	rejoice	rejoice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	steadfast	steadfast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
20	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	still	still	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
31	away	away	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
34	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
35	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | gladness |  |  |  |  | rejoice, well *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | gladness *not said here* |  |  |  |  | merry *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the steadfast Minstrel |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  | still | upon the uncertain sea | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  | our own safe home land | still | away, far *property* | tree rules |

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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:** «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (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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