---
title: [a] In the silence of sorrow the night o'er the earth spread her wid… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: [a] In the silence of sorrow the night o'er the earth spread her wide, sable pinions; And the stars [18] hid their faces, and light on the lake fell the tears of the spirits. Who acts: earth, silence, light. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins.
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 8, sentence 17

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\[a\] In the silence of sorrow the night o'er the earth spread her wide, sable pinions; And the stars \[18\] hid their faces, and light on the lake fell the tears of the spirits.

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**Who acts:** earth, silence, light · **What happens:** spread, hide, fall, silence · **To what, where:** wide sable pinions, faces, tears, sorrow

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (earth, silence, light), 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:pg8122:15:17
# text = [a] In the silence of sorrow the night o'er the earth spread her wide, sable pinions; And the stars [18] hid their faces, and light on the lake fell the tears of the spirits.
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	_
4	In	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
11	o'er	o'er	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
16	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	sable	sable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	pinions	pinion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
24	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	18	18	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	23	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	25	punct	_	_
27	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past | the earth | earth's wide sable pinions |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location pinion=Theme |
| 2 | **hide** | past | a silence of sorrow | pinions's faces |  |  |  | the stars *nsubj* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent face=Patient |
| 3 | **fall** | past | light on the lake | the tears of the spirits |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient tear=Result |
| 4 | **silence** |  |  | sorrow |  |  |  |  | nom silence «state 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:** «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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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