---
title: The Earl of Derby, in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, c… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: The Earl of Derby, in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, calls it "That pestilent heresy of the so-called English Hexameter; a metre wholly repugnant to the genius of our language; which can only be pressed into the service by a violation of every rule of prosody." Who acts: Earl, metre, v
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior., sentence 38

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The Earl of Derby, in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, calls it "That pestilent heresy of the so-called English Hexameter; a metre wholly repugnant to the genius of our language; which can only be pressed into the service by a violation of every rule of prosody."

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**Who acts:** Earl, metre, violation, Iliad, prosody · **What happens:** call, repugnant, press, translate, violate, rule · **To what, where:** verse, pestilent heresy, service, rule · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Earl, metre, violation, Iliad), 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:pg8122:2:39
# text = The Earl of Derby, in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, calls it "That pestilent heresy of the so-called English Hexameter; a metre wholly repugnant to the genius of our language; which can only be pressed into the service by a violation of every rule of prosody."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Earl	Earl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Derby	Derby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	preface	preface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	translation	translation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Iliad	Iliad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
16	calls	call	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
20	pestilent	pestilent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	heresy	heresy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	xcomp	_	_
22	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
27	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	xcomp	_	_
28	Hexameter	Hexameter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	metre	metre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	wholly	wholly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	repugnant	repugnant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	genius	genius	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
41	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
43	only	only	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	pressed	press	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	parataxis	_	_
46	into	into	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	by	by	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	violation	violation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	54	det	_	_
54	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	prosody	prosody	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | present | the Earl of Derby | verse |  |  |  | that pestilent heresy *xcomp* | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** *in a quote* | participle |  | that pestilent heresy *not said here* |  |  |  | English *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **repugnant** *in a quote* |  | a metre |  |  |  |  | to the genius of our language; wholly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **press** *in a quote* | can · passive | a violation of every rule of prosody |  |  | the service |  | which *nsubj:pass* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 5 | **translate** |  | the Iliad |  |  |  |  |  | nom translation «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 6 | **violate** *in a quote* |  |  | every rule of prosody |  |  |  |  | nom violation «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **rule** *in a quote* |  | prosody |  |  |  |  |  | nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=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:** «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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