---
title: In mediaeval Ireland there was, indeed, a subtle spirit of criticism… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: In mediaeval Ireland there was, indeed, a subtle spirit of criticism; but under its influence, being as it was of scholastic origin, no great singing men appeared, re-fashioning the old rude epics; and yet, the very shortcomings of the Irish tales, from a literary point of view, increase their impor
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 4, sentence 73

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In mediaeval Ireland there was, indeed, a subtle spirit of criticism; but under its influence, being as it was of scholastic origin, no great singing men appeared, re-fashioning the old rude epics; and yet, the very shortcomings of the Irish tales, from a literary point of view, increase their importance from a historical.

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**Who acts:** subtle spirit, influence, great singing men, shortcomings · **What happens:** be, sing, appear, re-fashion, increase, point · **To what, where:** Ireland, old rude epics, importance, historical, view

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., 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 (subtle spirit, influence, great singing men, shortcomings), 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:pg8109:4:73
# text = In mediaeval Ireland there was, indeed, a subtle spirit of criticism; but under its influence, being as it was of scholastic origin, no great singing men appeared, re-fashioning the old rude epics; and yet, the very shortcomings of the Irish tales, from a literary point of view, increase their importance from a historical.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	mediaeval	mediaeval	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod:desc	_	_
3	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	subtle	subtle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	criticism	criticism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	under	under	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	influence	influence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	cop	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	scholastic	scholastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	origin	origin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	31	det	_	_
29	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	amod	_	_
31	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
32	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	re-fashioning	re-fashion	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	epics	epic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
41	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	very	very	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	shortcomings	shortcoming	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nsubj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	from	from	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	literary	literary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	appos	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	view	view	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	increase	increase	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
59	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
61	from	from	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	historical	historical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a subtle spirit of criticism |  |  | Ireland  mediaeval; there |  | spirit's influence *nsubj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ireland=Location |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | influence |  |  |  |  | of scholastic origin | tree rules |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **appear** | past | no great singing men |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **re-fashion** | gerund | no great singing men *not said here* | the old rude epics |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **increase** | infinitive | the shortcomings of the Irish tales | tales's importance |  | a historical | yet |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.initial\_state PP.result»: agent=Patient importance=Extent from historical=Initial\_State |
| 7 | **point** |  |  | view |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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:** «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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