---
title: Then sitting by a brook He saw the flowering rush, Or cat-tail, in t… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: Then sitting by a brook He saw the flowering rush, Or cat-tail, in the stream-- Of all the plants on earth The weakest, softest thing-- And said unto himself, Although he spoke aloud: “What soul would ever dream That in that plant abides The secret of my death?” Who acts: Wolf, soul, softest thing, 
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 4, sentence 18

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Then sitting by a brook He saw the flowering rush, Or cat-tail, in the stream-- Of all the plants on earth The weakest, softest thing-- And said unto himself, Although he spoke aloud: “What soul would ever dream That in that plant abides The secret of my death?”

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**Who acts:** Wolf, soul, softest thing, my · **What happens:** sit, see, say, speak, dream, abide · **To what, where:** cat tail, stream, flowering rush, softest thing, plant, secret · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wolf, soul, softest thing, my), 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:pg78673:4:18
# text = Then sitting by a brook He saw the flowering rush, Or cat-tail, in the stream-- Of all the plants on earth The weakest, softest thing-- And said unto himself, Although he spoke aloud: “What soul would ever dream That in that plant abides The secret of my death?”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	csubj	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	brook	brook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	flowering	flowering	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	rush	rush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	Or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	weakest	weak	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	softest	soft	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
35	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	Although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
41	aloud	aloud	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
43	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	48	obj	_	_
45	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
46	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	48	advmod	_	_
48	dream	dream	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	parataxis	_	_
49	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	48	obj	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
52	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
53	abides	abide	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
54	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	53	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | gerund |  | cat tail |  | the stream and all plants on earth | then | by a brook | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by brook=Location |
| 2 | **see** | past | Wolf | the flowering rush |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rush=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | unto Wolf | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Wolf |  |  |  |  | aloud *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **dream** *in a quote* | would | soul | softest thing |  | that plant | ever | That *obj* | tree rules |
| 6 | **abide** *in a quote* | present | softest thing | the secret of my death |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **die** *in a quote* |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event 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:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (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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