---
title: Death walks like a shadow among my kin; And swift are the feet of th… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Death walks like a shadow among my kin; And swift are the feet of the flying years That cover Wakâwa with frost and tears, And leave their tracks on his wrinkled skin. Who acts: Death, swift feet. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, w
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, sentence 64

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Death walks like a shadow among my kin; And swift are the feet of the flying years That cover Wakâwa with frost and tears, And leave their tracks on his wrinkled skin.

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**Who acts:** Death, swift feet · **What happens:** walk, be, fly, cover, leave, wrinkle · **To what, where:** kin, swift feet, Wakâwa, tracks, wrinkled skin

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Death, swift feet), 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:pg8122:8:64
# text = Death walks like a shadow among my kin; And swift are the feet of the flying years That cover Wakâwa with frost and tears, And leave their tracks on his wrinkled skin.
1	Death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	walks	walk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	kin	kin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
10	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	swift	swift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	amod	_	_
18	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
19	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
20	cover	cover	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	Wakâwa	Wakâwa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	frost	frost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	wrinkled	wrinkle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	amod	_	_
34	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | present | Death |  |  | my kin |  | like a shadow | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme among kin=Trajectory |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | the swift feet |  |  | year |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **cover** | present | the swift feet |  | Wakâwa |  |  | with frost and tears; That *nsubj* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent wakâwa=Destination with frost=Theme |
| 5 | **leave** | infinitive | the swift feet *not said here* | feet's tracks |  | Death's wrinkled skin |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent track=Theme on skin=Location |
| 6 | **wrinkle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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