---
title: Then spake King Bove with countenance like night: ‘Of all dread shap… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then spake King Bove with countenance like night: ‘Of all dread shapes that traverse earth or sea, Or pierce the soil, or urge through heaven their flight, Say, which abhorrest thou most?’ Who acts: you, dread shapes, flight. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's he
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 9, sentence 26

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Then spake King Bove with countenance like night: ‘Of all dread shapes that traverse earth or sea, Or pierce the soil, or urge through heaven their flight, Say, which abhorrest thou most?’

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**Who acts:** you, dread shapes, flight · **What happens:** speak, traverse, pierce, urge, abhor · **To what, where:** King, earth, soil, thou, heaven · **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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, dread shapes, flight), 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:pg78491:9:26
# text = Then spake King Bove with countenance like night: ‘Of all dread shapes that traverse earth or sea, Or pierce the soil, or urge through heaven their flight, Say, which abhorrest thou most?’
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	spake	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	Bove	Bove	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	countenance	countenance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
10	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
13	dread	dread	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	traverse	traverse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	Or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	urge	urge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
28	through	through	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	Say	Say	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
36	abhorrest	abhor	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
37	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	obj	_	_
38	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | King |  |  | then | with countenance like night; all dread shapes *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **traverse** | present | all dread shapes | earth or sea |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme earth=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **pierce** | infinitive | all dread shapes *not said here* | the soil |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soil=Patient |
| 4 | **urge** | infinitive | all dread shapes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **abhor** | present | earth's flight | thou |  | heaven |  | which *nsubj* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thou=Stimulus |

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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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