---
title: A great English poet, himself a severe student, pronounced the early… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: A great English poet, himself a severe student, pronounced the early history of his own country to be a mere scuffling of kites and crows, as indeed are all wars which lack the sacred bard, and the sacred bard is absent where the kites and crows pick out his eyes. Who acts: importance, great English
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 3, sentence 75

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A great English poet, himself a severe student, pronounced the early history of his own country to be a mere scuffling of kites and crows, as indeed are all wars which lack the sacred bard, and the sacred bard is absent where the kites and crows pick out his eyes.

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**Who acts:** importance, great English poet, wars, sacred bard, kites · **What happens:** student, pronounce, be, lack, pick out · **To what, where:** early history, mere scuffling, sacred bard, eyes

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., 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 (importance, great English poet, wars, sacred bard), 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:pg8109:3:75
# text = A great English poet, himself a severe student, pronounced the early history of his own country to be a mere scuffling of kites and crows, as indeed are all wars which lack the sacred bard, and the sacred bard is absent where the kites and crows pick out his eyes.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	nsubj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	student	student	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
17	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	scuffling	scuffling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	advcl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	kites	kite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	wars	war	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	lack	lack	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	bard	bard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	bard	bard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
44	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
45	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
46	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	51	advmod	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	kites	kite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nsubj	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	conj	_	_
51	pick	pick	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	advcl	_	_
52	out	out	ADP	RP	_	51	compound:prt	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **student** |  | importance |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pronounce** | past | a great English poet and a severe student | the early history of importance's own country |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent history=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive | a great English poet and a severe student *not said here* | a mere scuffling |  |  |  | of kites and crows | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | as wars; all, indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **lack** | present | wars | the sacred bard |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | present | the sacred bard |  |  |  |  | absent *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **pick out** | present | the kites and crows | importance's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Project Gutenberg book 8109 (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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