German · New Poems: The Other Part

Absaloms Abfall

Absalom's Fall

42 lines · 28 notes

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1
They raised them up amid lightning:
SieTheysie · pronoun, nominative, pluralsubject of hoben
hobenraisedheben · verb, past, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
siethemsie · pronoun, accusative, pluralobject of hoben
The identity of ‘sie’ (them) is left deliberately unclear — likely the ceremonial horns, raised in a flash of light before their blast swells the banners in the next lines.
mitamidmit · prepositiondepends on hoben
GeblitzlightningGeblitz · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on mit
A collective noun built with the ‘Ge-’ prefix on ‘Blitz’ (lightning, flash) — 'a blaze of lightning.'
WordNominalized noun Geblitz Geblitz is a noun built from blitzen, 'to flash, to lightning', with the collective ge- prefix, meaning 'lightning, a flashing'. mit Geblitz means 'amid lightning', dative after mit.
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the storm out of the horns swelled
GrammarPreterite schwellte schwellte is the preterite of schwellen, 'to swell'. der Sturm ... schwellte means 'the storm swelled', with aus den Hörnern, 'out of the horns', describing where the swelling sound came from.
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silken, broad-billowing
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banners. The gloriously illumined one
GrammarNominalized participle Erhellte Erhellte is the past participle of erhellen, 'to illuminate', used as a noun: 'the illumined one'. Der herrlich Erhellte means 'the gloriously illumined one', herrlich modifying the participle as an adverb before it becomes a noun.
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took, in the high open tent,
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which an exulting people ringed about,
GrammarPreterite umstellte umstellte is the preterite of umstellen, 'to surround, to ring about'. das jauchzendes Volk umstellte means 'which an exulting people ringed about', with Volk as the subject and das as the accusative relative pronoun, object of umstellte.
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ten women into his possession,
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who (used to the aging prince's
GrammarGenitive des Fürsten des alternden Fürsten is genitive singular, 'of the aging prince'. alternden is the present participle of altern, 'to age', declined here like an adjective before the genitive noun Fürsten, 'prince'.
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sparing night and deed)
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beneath his thirsting
WordNominalized infinitive Dürsten Dürsten is the infinitive of dürsten, 'to thirst', used as a neuter noun, 'thirsting'. unter seinem Dürsten means 'beneath his thirsting', dative after unter, seinem agreeing with the neuter noun.
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they surged like summer corn.
WordPreterite wogten, surged wogten is the preterite of wogen, 'to surge, to wave'. wie Sommersaat compares the surging to summer corn swaying in a field, wie here meaning 'like' rather than 'how'.
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Then he stepped out to the council,
GrammarSeparable verb heraustreten heraustreten, 'to step out', is separable. trat, the preterite of treten, 'to step', carries its prefix heraus to the end of the clause: trat er heraus, 'he stepped out'. zum Rate means 'to the council'.
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as if diminished by nothing,
Grammarum nichts, by nothing um nichts means 'by nothing at all'. vermindert um nichts, 'diminished by nothing', uses um to mark the amount of a change, here zero. wie here introduces a comparison without a real cause.
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and each one who drew near to him
GrammarPreterite nahte plus dative nahte is the preterite of nahen, 'to draw near, to approach', which takes a dative object: der ihm nahte means 'who drew near to him'. der is the relative pronoun, subject of the clause; ihm is dative, the person approached.
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went blind from his light.
GrammarGenitive object with erblinden erblinden, 'to go blind', here takes a genitive object rather than a preposition: erblindete seines Lichts means 'went blind from his light'. This older use of the genitive to mark a cause is now rare in modern German.
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So he marched too before the armies,
GrammarSeparable verb voranziehen voranziehen, 'to march ahead, to lead the way', is separable: zog, the preterite of ziehen, carries voran to the end of the clause, completed in the next line. den Heeren is dative plural, 'before the armies', the group he marched ahead of.
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ahead, like a star before the year;
GrammarDative dem Jahr in comparison wie ein Stern dem Jahr compares him to a star that goes ahead of the year, with dem Jahr in the dative because voran, 'ahead', takes a dative object, the thing led. Jahr names a star that leads or opens a new year.
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above all the spears
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streamed his warm hair,
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which the helmet could not contain
GrammarPreterite faßte, contained faßte is the preterite of fassen, here meaning 'to hold, to contain'. das der Helm nicht faßte means 'which the helmet did not contain', das the accusative relative pronoun standing for something too large for the helmet.
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and which he sometimes hated,
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because it was heavier
GrammarSubordinating conjunction weil weil, 'because', introduces a subordinate clause and sends its finite verb, war, to the very end: weil es schwerer war means 'because it was heavier'. es refers to something named just before this clause.
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than his richest robes.
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The king had commanded
GrammarPluperfect hatte geboten hatte geboten is the pluperfect, past perfect, of gebieten, 'to command', built from hatte plus the participle geboten. It marks an order given before the events described around it: the king had commanded.
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that the beautiful one be spared.
GrammarPresent subjunctive schone schone is the present subjunctive, Konjunktiv I, of schonen, 'to spare'. It follows daß in reported command: daß man den Schönen schone means 'that the beautiful one be spared'. den Schönen is schön used as a noun, 'the beautiful one', accusative.
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Yet they saw him, without
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a helmet, at the threatened
GrammarSentence runs across lines The sentence continues from the line before without pausing at the line break, a device called enjambment. Helm, 'helmet', is the object introduced there; an den bedrohten continues into the following line with the noun it modifies.
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places hewing the fiercest knots
WordSuperlative ärgsten ärgsten is the superlative of arg, 'bad, fierce', meaning 'fiercest, worst'. die ärgsten Knoten means 'the fiercest knots', accusative plural, describing the hardest tangles to be cut through.
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into red pieces of the dead
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cut wide apart.
GrammarCompound verb auseinanderhauen auseinanderhauen combines auseinander, 'apart', and hauen, 'to hew, to chop', meaning 'to cut apart, to hack apart'. auseinanderhaun is a shortened verse form of the plural present auseinanderhauen, 'they cut apart'.
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Then for a long time no one knew
GrammarPronoun keiner, no one keiner means 'no one, none', nominative masculine singular, the subject of wußte, 'knew'. wußte is the preterite of wissen, 'to know'. lange means 'for a long time', modifying how long no one knew.
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of him, until suddenly someone
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cried: He's hanging back there
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in the terebinths
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with his eyebrows drawn up high.
WordArchaic plural Braun Braun here is an old plural form of Braue, 'eyebrow', now normally Brauen. mit hochgezogenen Braun means 'with eyebrows drawn up high', dative plural after mit, hochgezogenen the past participle of hochziehen, 'to draw up'.
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That was hint enough.
Grammargenug plus genitive genug, 'enough', can take a genitive object in older or formal German: genug des Winks means 'enough of the hint'. Modern usage more often says genug Wink or genug an Wink. Winks is the genitive of Wink, 'hint, sign'.
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Joab, like a hunter,
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spied the hair—: a slanting,
WordPreterite erspähte erspähte is the preterite of erspähen, 'to spy, to catch sight of'. das Haar is its accusative object, 'the hair'. The sentence breaks off after a dash, then restarts describing what was spied: ein schräger, gedrehter Ast, 'a slanting, twisted branch'.
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twisted branch: there it hung.
GrammarContraction hings hings fuses hing, the preterite of hängen, 'to hang', with the enclitic pronoun es, 'it': hings means 'it hung'. This kind of contraction is common in spoken and verse German after a verb ending in a vowel-like sound.
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He ran the slender plaintiff through,
GrammarPreterite durchrannte durchrannte is the preterite of durchrennen, 'to run through, to run someone through', here meaning he pierced the man by running him through. den ... Kläger is its accusative object, 'the plaintiff'.
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and his armor-bearers
WordCompound noun Waffenträger Waffenträger combines Waffe, 'weapon', and Träger, 'bearer, carrier', meaning 'armor-bearer, weapon-bearer'. seine Waffenträger, nominative plural, names the men who carried Absalom's weapons and joined in the killing.
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pierced him right and left.
WordPreterite durchbohrten durchbohrten is the third person plural preterite of durchbohren, 'to pierce through, to run through'. ihn is its accusative object, 'him'. rechts und links, 'right and left', describes the two sides they struck from.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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