---
title: And the swarthy herds of bison feed On the sun-lit slope and the wav… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: And the swarthy herds of bison feed On the sun-lit slope and the waving mead; The dappled fawns from their coverts peep, And countless flocks on the waters sleep; And the silent years with their fingers trace No furrows for aye on the hunter's face. Who acts: swarthy herds, dappled fawns, countless 
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 2, sentence 68

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And the swarthy herds of bison feed On the sun-lit slope and the waving mead; The dappled fawns from their coverts peep, And countless flocks on the waters sleep; And the silent years with their fingers trace No furrows for aye on the hunter's face.

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**Who acts:** swarthy herds, dappled fawns, countless flocks, silent years · **What happens:** feed, lit, wave, peep, sleep, trace · **To what, where:** furrows, face

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (swarthy herds, dappled fawns, countless flocks, silent years), 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:pg8122:9:68
# text = And the swarthy herds of bison feed On the sun-lit slope and the waving mead; The dappled fawns from their coverts peep, And countless flocks on the waters sleep; And the silent years with their fingers trace No furrows for aye on the hunter's face.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	swarthy	swarthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	herds	herd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	bison	bison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	feed	feed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	On	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
10	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	lit	lit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
13	slope	slope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	waving	wave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	amod	_	_
17	mead	mead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
19	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	dappled	dappled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	fawns	fawn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	coverts	covert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	peep	peep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
27	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
28	countless	countless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	flocks	flock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
33	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
35	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
42	trace	trace	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
43	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	44	det	_	_
44	furrows	furrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obj	_	_
45	for	for	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	aye	aye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
47	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	's	's	PART	POS	_	49	case	_	_
51	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | present | the swarthy herds of bison |  |  |  |  | on the lit slope and the waving mead | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on slope=Patient |
| 2 | **lit** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | sun *compound* | tree rules |
| 3 | **wave** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **peep** | present | the dappled fawns from fawns's coverts |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sleep** | present | countless flocks on the waters |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **trace** | present | the silent years with fawns's fingers | no furrows |  | the hunter's face |  | for aye | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent furrow=Theme on face=Destination |

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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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