---
title: For Naisi’s front is white, his tresses dark; And still of him men s… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: For Naisi’s front is white, his tresses dark; And still of him men say; “On Naisi’s cheek Not roses, but red dawns of battles break!”’ Who acts: tresses, men, red dawns. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 3, with its d
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 3, sentence 69

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For Naisi’s front is white, his tresses dark; And still of him men say; “On Naisi’s cheek Not roses, but red dawns of battles break!”’

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**Who acts:** tresses, men, red dawns · **What happens:** be, say, break · **To what, where:** cheek · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tresses, men, red dawns), 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:pg78491:3:69
# text = For Naisi’s front is white, his tresses dark; And still of him men say; “On Naisi’s cheek Not roses, but red dawns of battles break!”’
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	Naisi	Naisi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	tresses	tress	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	still	still	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	On	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	Naisi	Naisi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’s	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	cheek	cheek	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
24	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	dawns	dawn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	battles	battle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
32	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | for Naisi's front; white *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Naisi's tresses |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | men |  |  |  | still |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **break** *in a quote* | present | red dawns of battles |  |  | Naisi's cheek and roses |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on cheek=Location |

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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 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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