German · New Poems: The Other Part

Aus dem Leben eines Heiligen

From the Life of a Saint

16 lines · 16 notes

Tap a line to open its words. The mark beside it plays it.

1
He knew dreads whose very entrance
ErHeer · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on kannte
kannteknewkennen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
ÄngstedreadsAngst · noun, accusative, feminine, pluraldepends on kannte
derenwhoseder · relative pronoun, genitive, feminine, pluraldepends on Eingang
EingangentranceEingang · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of war
schonalreadyschon · adverbdepends on war
GrammarGenitive relative pronoun deren deren is the genitive relative pronoun, 'whose, of which', agreeing with the plural antecedent Ängste, 'dreads, fears'. German marks possession in a relative clause with dessen for masculine or neuter singular and deren for feminine singular and all plurals.
2
was already like dying, and not to be survived.
Grammarsein zu plus infinitive, passive sense zu überstehen is the infinitive of überstehen, 'to get through, to survive', with zu. After sein, war, this sein zu construction carries a passive, modal meaning: 'was not to be survived'. überstehen is inseparable, so über- never splits off.
3
His heart learned, slowly, to pass all the way through;
Grammarzu wedged inside a separable verb durchgehen, 'to go through', is a separable-prefix verb. In a zu-infinitive, zu is wedged between prefix and stem: durch-zu-gehen. erlernen means 'to learn thoroughly, to master'.
4
he reared it up like a son.
WordSeparable verb for raising a child großziehen, literally 'to pull big', is the ordinary verb for raising a child or animal. It is separable, so the prefix groß stands apart from the past tense zog, from ziehen, 'to pull'.
5
And nameless straits he knew,
WordPlural noun for dire hardship die Not, plural Nöte, means 'distress, hardship, dire need'. namenlos means 'nameless', and idiomatically 'unspeakable, immense'. namenlose Nöte are torments too vast to be named.
6
dark and without morning, like boarded-up stalls;
WordPlural noun for boarded stalls der Verschlag is a rough, boarded-off enclosure, a partitioned cubbyhole, crate, or windowless stall. The plural Verschläge names a row of such dark boxes, matching finster und ohne Morgen, 'dark and without morning'.
7
and his soul he gave up obediently,
GrammarSeparable verb hergeben hergeben means 'to give up, to hand over'. It is separable: the prefix her drops to the clause end, leaving gab, past of geben, in second position, gab er ... her. folgsam means 'obedient, biddable'.
8
now that she was grown, so that she might lie
GrammarArchaic conjunction of purpose auf daß is an archaic conjunction of purpose meaning 'so that, in order that'; modern German would use damit. It governs läge, the past subjunctive of liegen, 'to lie'. sie refers to die Seele, 'the soul', grammatically feminine.
9
beside her bridegroom and lord; and he stayed
Grammarbei always takes the dative bei, 'beside, with', always takes the dative: ihrem Bräutigam und Herrn is dative masculine. der Bräutigam means 'bridegroom'. The final -n on Herrn is the weak-noun dative ending of der Herr, 'lord'.
10
behind, alone, in such a place,
GrammarSeparable verb split by enjambment blieb, which ended the previous line, belongs to zurückbleiben, 'to remain behind', whose prefix zurück opens this line. an einem solchen Orte is dative, 'in such a place'; the -e on Orte is an older dative ending, now usually dropped.
11
where the being-alone outdid all measure,
WordInfinitive turned into a noun allein sein, 'to be alone', becomes the neuter noun das Alleinsein, 'the being-alone, the solitude'. übertrieb is the past of übertreiben, 'to exaggerate, to carry to excess'; here the solitude is the subject of that verb.
12
and dwelt far off and never wanted words.
WordVerb for settled dwelling wohnen means 'to dwell, to live somewhere', stronger than merely staying. wohnte weit means 'dwelt far off'. wollte niemals Worte means 'never wanted words', from wollen, 'to want', and das Wort, 'word'.
13
But in return, after time on time, he came to know
Grammarerfahren for coming to know dafür here means 'in return, in exchange for that'. nach Zeit und Zeit means 'after time and time again', that is, after a very long while. erfuhr is the past of erfahren, which means both 'to learn' and 'to come to experience'.
14
the happiness, too, of laying himself into his own hands,
GrammarInfinitive parts scattered across lines The infinitive completing das Glück is sich ... zu legen, 'to lay oneself', with its parts spread over three lines. sich in die eignen Hände is accusative, showing motion into, 'into his own hands'. eignen is the poetic short form of eigenen, 'own'.
15
so that he might feel a tenderness,
Grammardamit sends the verb to the end damit introduces a purpose clause, 'so that, in order that', and sends its verb, empfände, to the end. empfände is the past subjunctive of empfinden, 'to feel, to sense', expressing a wished-for aim. Zärtlichkeit means 'tenderness'.
16
to lay, as every living creature does.
WordCollective noun for all living things Kreatur means 'creature', but with die ganze, 'the whole', it names all living things together. zu legen completes the infinitive begun two lines earlier: to lay himself in his own hands, as die ganze Kreatur, 'the whole of creation', does.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
The app: The same text on your phone, your place kept, the audio offline. The first poems free, the rest $4.99.
App Store Google Play
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents