A method for automated semantic parsing of an image of a structured document includes acquiring the image of the structured document. The image of the structured document is lexed so as to associate each image element of a plurality of image elements of the image with a predefined token. A user defined template of expected semantically significant elements of the structured document is input into a parser, the expected elements being defined in a visibly pushdown language (VPL) format. The tokens are parsed into the expected elements. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions and a system are also described.