TANNHÄUSER
XVI
One is incisive, corrosive;
Two retorts, nettled, curt, crepitant;
Three makes rejoinder, expansive, explosive;
Four overbears them all, strident and strepitant:
Five ... O Danaides, O Sieve!
XVII
Now, they ply axes and crowbars;
Now, they prick pins at a tissue