---
title: Him Fergus heard, and stood in anguish mute, His giant bulk bowed by… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Him Fergus heard, and stood in anguish mute, His giant bulk bowed by his spirit’s pain That ever downward worked from scalp to foot: Like stag whom serpent folds begin to strain He stood--that strives in vain that coil to break-- And flame was on his face while thus he spake; Who acts: elect, giant 
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 6, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Him Fergus heard, and stood in anguish mute, His giant bulk bowed by his spirit’s pain That ever downward worked from scalp to foot: Like stag whom serpent folds begin to strain He stood--that strives in vain that coil to break-- And flame was on his face while thus he spake;

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**Who acts:** elect, giant bulk, serpent folds, stag, coil, flame · **What happens:** hear, stand, anguish, bow, work, begin · **To what, where:** mute, giant bulk, scalp, stag, vain, face · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elect, giant bulk, serpent folds, stag), 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:pg78491:6:3
# text = Him Fergus heard, and stood in anguish mute, His giant bulk bowed by his spirit’s pain That ever downward worked from scalp to foot: Like stag whom serpent folds begin to strain He stood--that strives in vain that coil to break-- And flame was on his face while thus he spake;
1	Him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	anguish	anguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	mute	mute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	bulk	bulk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	bowed	bow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’s	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
21	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	23	advmod	_	_
22	downward	downward	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	worked	work	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	scalp	scalp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
29	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	stag	stag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	parataxis	_	_
31	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	obj	_	_
32	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	folds	fold	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
34	begin	begin	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	strain	strain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	strives	strive	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	obl	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	coil	coil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
49	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
50	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
52	on	on	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
55	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
56	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	58	advcl	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	spake	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | elect |  |  |  |  | Fergus *nsubj* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **stand** | past | elect *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **anguish** | infinitive | elect *not said here* | mute |  |  |  | elect's giant bulk *obl* | tree rules |
| 4 | **bow** | participle |  | elect's giant bulk *not said here* |  |  |  | by elect's spirit's pain | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by pain=Location |
| 5 | **work** | participle | elect's giant bulk | elect's giant bulk *not said here* |  | scalp | ever | to foot; stag *parataxis*; downward *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent bulk=Material |
| 6 | **begin** | present | serpent folds | stag |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **strain** | to-infinitive | serpent folds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **stand** | past | elect |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **strive** | present | stag |  |  | vain |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **break** | to-infinitive | coil |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 11 | **is** | past | flame |  |  | elect's face |  | elect *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 12 | **speak** *speech: other* |  | elect |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 13 | **pain** |  | elect's spirit |  |  |  |  |  | nom pain «state transitive»: 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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