This demo provides an example of both digital text presentation and simple textual analysis. It consists of TEI-formatted XML data containing the public domain poem Die Schildkröte (The Turtle) by the German poet Christian Morgenstern. The German compound word "Schildkröte" literally breaks apart into "shield-toad." The XML is parsed and displayed using JavaScript and DOMParser, and the visuals are generated using the d3 package for JavaScript. This demo is best viewed on a computer screen; second-best is landscape mode.
- Bran Besalke, May 2026

Features

Word-by-word English translation can be activated with the "Show Translation Gloss" selection.
The ABAB rhyme scheme can be highlighted with the "Highlight Rhymes" selection.
A simple German-English dictionary gives dictionary-forms, part-of-speech information, and simple translations for words. Click on a word in the poem to view that word's entry.
Charts showing word distribution by part-of-speech and noun distribution by grammatical gender automatically adjusts based on which verses of the poem are toggled on.

Related Links:

Go West? Hypertext as the New Western Frontier
- Conference paper I presented for the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University of Helsinki, 2008.
The Big Johnson Project: Digitizing the Dictionary (PDF)
- Prize-winning poster presentation at the Washington University Graduate Student Symposium, 2011.
How the first Johnson's Dictionary Online was created
- Blog entry about how I first created an online edition of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, before passing the project on to the Center for Humanities and Digital Research at the University of Central Florida.
GitHub
- The code for this page is available here.

Original XML

	<text>
	<front>
	<docTitle>
	<titlePart>Die Schildkröte</titlePart>
	</docTitle>
	</front>
	<body>
	<lg rhyme="abab">
		<l>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">»Ich </w>
			<w lemma="sein" notation="am">bin </w>
			<w lemma="nun" notation="now">nun </w>
			<w lemma="tausend" notation="a thousand">tausend </w>
			<w lemma="Jahr" notation="years">Jahre </w>
			<w lemma="alt" notation="old" rhyme="a">alt </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="und" notation="and">und </w>
			<w lemma="werden" notation="become">werde </w>
			<w lemma="täglich" notation="daily">täglich </w>
			<w lemma="alt" notation="older;" rhyme="b">älter; </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="der" notation="the">der </w>
			<w lemma="Gotenkönig" notation="king of the Goths">Gotenkönig </w>
			<w lemma="Theobald" notation="Theobald" rhyme="a">Theobald </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="erziehen" notation="raised">erzog </w>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="me">mich </w>
			<w lemma="in" notation="in a">im </w>
			<w lemma="Behälter" notation="container." rhyme="b">Behälter. </w>
		</l>
	</lg>
	
	<lg rhyme="abab">
		<l>
			<w lemma="seitdem" notation="Since then">Seitdem </w>
			<w lemma="sein" notation="have">ist </w>
			<w lemma="mancherlei" notation="various things">mancherlei </w>
			<w lemma="geschehen" notation="happened," rhyme="a">geschehn, </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="doch" notation="but">doch </w>
			<w lemma="wissen" notation="know">weiß </w>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">ich </w>
			<w lemma="nichts" notation="nothing">nichts </w>
			<w lemma="davon" notation="of that;" rhyme="b">davon; </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="zu" notation="at">zur </w>
			<w lemma="Zeit" notation="the time,">Zeit, </w>
			<w lemma="da" notation="there">da </w>
			<w lemma="lassen" notation="allowed">läßt </w>
			<w lemma="für" notation="for">für </w>
			<w lemma="Geld" notation="money">Geld </w>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="me">mich </w>
			<w lemma="sehen" notation="to be seen" rhyme="a">sehn </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="ein" notation="a">ein </w>
			<w lemma="Kaufmann" notation="merchant">Kaufmann </w>
			<w lemma="zu" notation="at">zu </w>
			<w lemma="Heilbronn" notation="Heilbronn" rhyme="b">Heilbronn.</w>
		</l>
	</lg>
	
	<lg rhyme="abab">
		<l>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">Ich </w>
			<w lemma="kennen" notation="know">kenne </w>
			<w lemma="nicht" notation="not">nicht </w>
			<w lemma="das" notation="of">des </w>
			<w lemma="Tod" notation="Death's">Todes </w>
			<w lemma="Bild" notation="image" rhyme="a">Bild </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="und" notation="and">und </w>
			<w lemma="nicht" notation="not">nicht </w>
			<w lemma="das" notation="of">des </w> 
			<w lemma="Sterben" notation="Dying's">Sterbens </w>
			<w lemma="Not" notation="urgency:" rhyme="b">Nöte: </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">Ich </w>
			<w lemma="sein" notation="am">bin </w>
			<w lemma="die" notation="the">die </w>
			<w lemma="Schild" notation="shield">Schild - </w>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">ich </w>
			<w lemma="sein" notation="am">bin </w>
			<w lemma="die" notation="the">die </w>
			<w lemma="Schild" notation="shield" rhyme="a">Schild - </w>
		</l>
		<l>
			<w lemma="ich" notation="I">ich </w>
			<w lemma="sein" notation="am">bin </w>
			<w lemma="die" notation="the">die </w>
			<w lemma="Schild" notation="shield">Schild - </w>
			<w lemma="Kröte" notation="toe">krö - </w>
			<w lemma="Kröte" notation="toad." rhyme="b">kröte.«</w>
		</l>
	</lg>
	</body>
	<back>
	<author>Christian Morgenstern</author>
	<source>Alle Galgenlieder, 1932</source>
	</back>
	</text>

Dictionary

[
{theWord:"alt", partOfSpeech:"adjective", gender:"", definition:"old, ancient"},
{theWord:"Behälter", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"masculine", definition:"container"},
{theWord:"Bild", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"neuter", definition:"image, picture"},
{theWord:"da", partOfSpeech:"adverb", gender:"", definition:"there, then"},
{theWord:"davon", partOfSpeech:"adverb", gender:"", definition:"from that"},
{theWord:"das", partOfSpeech:"article", gender:"neuter", definition:"the"},
{theWord:"der", partOfSpeech:"article", gender:"masculine", definition:"the"},
{theWord:"die", partOfSpeech:"article", gender:"feminine", definition:"the"},
{theWord:"doch", partOfSpeech:"conjunction", gender:"", definition:"though, but"},
{theWord:"ein", partOfSpeech:"article", gender:"", definition:"a, an"},
{theWord:"erziehen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to nurture"},
{theWord:"für", partOfSpeech:"preposition", gender:"", definition:"for"},
{theWord:"Geld", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"neuter", definition:"money"},
{theWord:"geschehen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to occur, happen"},
{theWord:"Gotenkönig", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"masculine", definition:"king of the Goths"},
{theWord:"Heilbronn", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"neuter", definition:"city in Baden-Württemberg"},
{theWord:"ich", partOfSpeech:"pronoun", gender:"", definition:"I"},
{theWord:"in", partOfSpeech:"preposition", gender:"", definition:"in, at"},
{theWord:"Jahr", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"neuter", definition:"year"},
{theWord:"Kaufmann", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"masculine", definition:"merchant, trader"},
{theWord:"kennen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to know, to be familiar with"},
{theWord:"Kröte", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"feminine", definition:"toad"},
{theWord:"lassen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to let, to cause"},
{theWord:"mancherlei", partOfSpeech:"adjective", gender:"", definition:"various"},
{theWord:"nicht", partOfSpeech:"adverb", gender:"", definition:"not"},
{theWord:"nichts", partOfSpeech:"pronoun", gender:"neuter", definition:"nothing"},
{theWord:"Not", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"feminine", definition:"need, poverty, emergency"},
{theWord:"nun", partOfSpeech:"adverb", gender:"", definition:"now, then"},
{theWord:"Schild", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"masculine", definition:"shield"},
{theWord:"sehen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to see, to look at"},
{theWord:"sein", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to be"},
{theWord:"seitdem", partOfSpeech:"conjunction", gender:"", definition:"since"},
{theWord:"Sterben", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"neuter", definition:"dying"},
{theWord:"täglich", partOfSpeech:"adverb", gender:"", definition:"daily"},
{theWord:"tausend", partOfSpeech:"numeral", gender:"", definition:"thousand"},
{theWord:"Theobald", partOfSpeech:"proper noun", gender:"", definition:"Theobald"},
{theWord:"Tod", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"masculine", definition:"death"},
{theWord:"und", partOfSpeech:"conjunction", gender:"", definition:"and"},
{theWord:"werden", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to become"},
{theWord:"wissen", partOfSpeech:"verb", gender:"", definition:"to know"},
{theWord:"Zeit", partOfSpeech:"noun", gender:"feminine", definition:"time"},
{theWord:"zu", partOfSpeech:"preposition", gender:"", definition:"to, at"}
]

Dictionary

Click on a word in the poem to view its definition.

Data for Selected Verses

Total Words

Words by Part of Speech

Nouns by Grammatical Gender

Original XML

Dictionary