---
title: So close that fight, their crests That waved defiance, mingled in mi… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: So close that fight, their crests That waved defiance, mingled in mid air; While all along the circles of their shields, And all adown their swords, viewless for speed Ran, mad with rage, the demons of dark moors And war-sprites of the valleys, Bocanachs And Banacahs, whose scream, so keen its edge,
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 13, sentence 180

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So close that fight, their crests That waved defiance, mingled in mid air; While all along the circles of their shields, And all adown their swords, viewless for speed Ran, mad with rage, the demons of dark moors And war-sprites of the valleys, Bocanachs And Banacahs, whose scream, so keen its edge, Might shear the centuried forest as the scythe Shears meadow grass.

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**Who acts:** you, crests, circles, scythe, Bocanachs · **What happens:** close, wave, mingle, adown, shear, century · **To what, where:** fight, defiance, mid air, swords, centuried forest, meadow grass

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This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, crests, circles, scythe), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78491:13:182
# text = So close that fight, their crests That waved defiance, mingled in mid air; While all along the circles of their shields, And all adown their swords, viewless for speed Ran, mad with rage, the demons of dark moors And war-sprites of the valleys, Bocanachs And Banacahs, whose scream, so keen its edge, Might shear the centuried forest as the scythe Shears meadow grass.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	close	close	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	crests	crest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
9	waved	wave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	defiance	defiance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	mingled	mingle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	mid	mid	X	AFX	_	15	compound	_	_
15	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	all	all	ADV	RB	_	21	advcl	_	_
19	along	along	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	circles	circle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	shields	shield	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	advmod	_	_
28	adown	adown	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	swords	sword	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	viewless	viewless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	parataxis	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	Ran	Ran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	rage	rage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	demons	demon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	moors	moor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	_
46	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	sprites	sprite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	valleys	valley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
54	Bocanachs	Bocanachs	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	52	appos	_	_
55	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	Banacahs	Banacahs	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	scream	scream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
61	so	so	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
62	keen	keen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
63	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	Might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	67	aux	_	_
67	shear	shear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	_
68	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
69	centuried	century	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	70	amod	_	_
70	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	obj	_	_
71	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	74	mark	_	_
72	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
73	scythe	scythe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nsubj	_	_
74	Shears	shear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	67	advcl	_	_
75	meadow	meadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	compound	_	_
76	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | imperative | you *not said here* | that fight |  |  |  | along the circles of feet's shields and the demons of dark moors and war sprites of the valleys; feet's crests *obl* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fight=Patient |
| 2 | **wave** | past | feet's crests | defiance |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent defiance=Patient |
| 3 | **mingle** | participle |  | defiance *not said here* |  | mid air |  |  | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **adown** | present |  | feet's swords |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **shear** | might | the circles of feet's shields and the demons of dark moors and war sprites of the valleys *not said here* | the centuried forest |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent forest=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **century** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **shear** | present | the scythe | meadow grass |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent grass=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **scream** |  | Bocanachs and Banacahs |  |  |  |  |  | nom scream «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Project Gutenberg book 78491 (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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