73244
I'm reading 仮面の告白 by Mishima Yukio, and I came across this sentence:

> そのほか に縄目は見えず、青年の裸体を覆うものとては、腰のまわりにゆるやか に巻きつけられた 白い粗布があるばかりだった。

I would like to understand how is this sentence made by the particles とて and
ばかり and by the use of verbs like 覆う and ある in their terminal form.

The first part (青年の裸体を覆うものとては) seems right to me, with a relative clause
(青年の裸体を覆う) modifying もの and then a particle (とて), wich I believe needs to be
at the end of the clause, and so は, but why 覆う is in its terminal form and not
in its past -た form if this is a literary text?

The second part (腰のまわりにゆるやかに巻きつけられた白い粗布があるばかりだった) seems more complex to me,
with another relative clause (腰のまわりにゆるやかに巻きつけられた), this time with its verb
巻きつけられた in its past -た form, modifying 白い粗布, but then followed by another verb
(ある) and then a particle (ばかり) and then one last verb (だった). What is the
purpose of ある and だった in this sentence? I think they are related to ばかり, and
even とて.

Also, I noticed は is used in the first part and then が in the sencond part.
Does it mean this is a contrastive construction?

Thanks.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-25T19:11:58.590
73237
2019-11-26T20:14:41.013
2019-11-25T20:07:04.040
78
36117
question
grammar usage particles verbs syntax
How can this sentence be understood?
* Regarding this ～とては, I initially thought this was a typo, but this seems to be a valid construction taken from an archaic grammar pattern, meaning "Speaking of ～" or something. See @goldbrick's comment. Usually [～としては](https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n2-grammar-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF-toshite-wa/) ("As for ～", "As ～", "From ～'s standpoint", "As far as ～ is concerned") is used in modern standard Japanese.

  * ～があるばかりだ is "there is only ～" or "all that is there is ～". It's semantically the same as ～があるだけだ.

  * 巻きつけられた is in the past tense because of [this rule](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29671/5010).

  * は is used in the first part of the sentence because of [this rule](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1077/5010). が is used near the end of the sentence simply because 白い粗布 has not been introduced in the discourse. There is no contrast in particular in this sentence.

All in all, a literal translation would look like:

> 青年の裸体を覆うものとては、  
>  Speaking of things that covers his naked body, ...
>
> ((腰のまわりにゆるやかに巻きつけられた→)白い粗布)があるばかりだった。  
>  there was only a white rag loosely wrapped around his waist.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-26T04:34:22.337
73244
2019-11-26T20:14:41.013
2019-11-26T20:14:41.013
5229
5010
73237
answer