Phaedrus
Banned
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
Greetings,
This is a thread strictly for those members who enjoy mind-bending exercises in grammar. It is recommended only for native speakers, since the grammar of the sentence I wish to parse is archaic in certain essential respects, both grammatical and orthographical. It may be worthwhile to note that I have studied grammar intensively for a long time and consider the featured sentence the hardest sentence I have ever tried to parse.
I should like to try to diagram the sentence below, written in blank verse by John Milton (Paradise Lost, 1667, Book III, lines 655-667), using the Reed-Kellogg diagramming method. I am mainly interested in the first part of the sentence, the part preceding the second semicolon. I am including the latter part of the sentence because I believe that the second word in the first part, "for," must be understood in relation to it. Satan says:
"Uriel, for thou of those seav'n Spirits that stand
In sight of Gods high Throne, gloriously bright,
The first art wont his great authentic will
Interpreter through highest Heav'n to bring,
Where all his Sons thy Embassie attend;
And here art likeliest by supream decree
Like honour to obtain, and as his Eye
To visit oft this new Creation round;
Unspeakable desire to see, and know
All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man,
His chief delight and favour, him for whom
All these his works so wondrous he ordaind,
Hath brought me from the Quires of Cherubim
Alone thus wandring."
After banging my head against this sentence for hours, over a couple of days, and considering various possibilities for subject and verb in the first part of the sentence, I ultimately decided that "The first art" was not a noun phrase. My present analysis of the sentence is that "for" is the FANBOYS "for," introducing an independent clause whose subject is "thou" and whose verb is "art," an Early Modern English form of the copula "be."
That may have been progress, but the knottiness needs more untying yet. My current problem, which prevents me from diagramming the sentence, is with the ten words following what I believe to be the adjective "wont" (meaning "accustomed"), the head of the subject-complement phrase following "art." It appears to me to be complemented by an infinitival clause with a fronted direct object, something else, and a prepositional phrase:
For thou (of those seven spirits that . . . the first) art wont his great authentic will interpreter through highest heaven to bring.
--> For thou (the first of those seven spirits that . . .) art wont to bring his great authentic will interpreter through highest heaven.
My question: How should the noun "interpreter" be syntactically interpreted? I can't diagram the sentence without knowing.
Thank you.
This is a thread strictly for those members who enjoy mind-bending exercises in grammar. It is recommended only for native speakers, since the grammar of the sentence I wish to parse is archaic in certain essential respects, both grammatical and orthographical. It may be worthwhile to note that I have studied grammar intensively for a long time and consider the featured sentence the hardest sentence I have ever tried to parse.
I should like to try to diagram the sentence below, written in blank verse by John Milton (Paradise Lost, 1667, Book III, lines 655-667), using the Reed-Kellogg diagramming method. I am mainly interested in the first part of the sentence, the part preceding the second semicolon. I am including the latter part of the sentence because I believe that the second word in the first part, "for," must be understood in relation to it. Satan says:
"Uriel, for thou of those seav'n Spirits that stand
In sight of Gods high Throne, gloriously bright,
The first art wont his great authentic will
Interpreter through highest Heav'n to bring,
Where all his Sons thy Embassie attend;
And here art likeliest by supream decree
Like honour to obtain, and as his Eye
To visit oft this new Creation round;
Unspeakable desire to see, and know
All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man,
His chief delight and favour, him for whom
All these his works so wondrous he ordaind,
Hath brought me from the Quires of Cherubim
Alone thus wandring."
After banging my head against this sentence for hours, over a couple of days, and considering various possibilities for subject and verb in the first part of the sentence, I ultimately decided that "The first art" was not a noun phrase. My present analysis of the sentence is that "for" is the FANBOYS "for," introducing an independent clause whose subject is "thou" and whose verb is "art," an Early Modern English form of the copula "be."
That may have been progress, but the knottiness needs more untying yet. My current problem, which prevents me from diagramming the sentence, is with the ten words following what I believe to be the adjective "wont" (meaning "accustomed"), the head of the subject-complement phrase following "art." It appears to me to be complemented by an infinitival clause with a fronted direct object, something else, and a prepositional phrase:
For thou (of those seven spirits that . . . the first) art wont his great authentic will interpreter through highest heaven to bring.
--> For thou (the first of those seven spirits that . . .) art wont to bring his great authentic will interpreter through highest heaven.
My question: How should the noun "interpreter" be syntactically interpreted? I can't diagram the sentence without knowing.
Thank you.
Last edited: