German · New Poems: The Other Part

Begegnung in der Kastanien-Allee

Encounter in the Chestnut Avenue

17 lines · 18 notes

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1
Around him the entrance's green darkness was
Ihmaround himihm · pronoun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on umgegeben
wardwaswerden · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
'ward' is the archaic preterite of 'werden' (modern 'wurde'), forming a passive with 'umgegeben' in the next line: 'was wrapped.'
destheder · determiner, genitive, masculine, singulardepends on Eingangs
Eingangsentrance'sEingang · noun, genitive, masculine, singulardepends on Dunkelheit
grünegreengrün · adjective, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Dunkelheit
DunkelheitdarknessDunkelheit · noun, nominative, feminine, singularsubject of ward
GrammarAn archaic preterite of werden ward is the old, literary preterite of werden, 'to become', where modern German uses wurde. With the past participle umgegeben it forms a passive: ihm ward ... umgegeben means 'around him there was wrapped'. The participle does not arrive until the end of the next line.
GrammarA fronted genitive des Eingangs is the genitive of der Eingang, 'the entrance, the way in': 'of the entrance'. It modifies Dunkelheit, 'darkness': des Eingangs grüne Dunkelheit, 'the entrance's green darkness'. Plain German would instead say die grüne Dunkelheit des Eingangs.
2
wrapped about him, cool as a cloak of silk,
GrammarA past participle completing a passive umgegeben is the past participle of umgeben, 'to surround, wrap around'. With ward from the line before, it completes the passive: 'was wrapped around him'. The simile kühl wie ein Seidenmantel, 'cool as a cloak of silk', likens the shade of the trees to a garment.
3
which he still took up and arranged: just as,
GrammarA relative pronoun tracking a metaphor den is the accusative relative pronoun pointing back to Seidenmantel, 'silk cloak': 'which he took up and arranged'. The man handles the green shade like a coat settled on the shoulders, and als eben, 'just as', turns the sentence toward the encounter ahead.
4
at the far transparent end, far off,
5
out of green sun, as out of panes of green,
WordPanes that filter the light die Scheibe, plural Scheiben, means a 'pane' of glass, a disc, a slice. wie aus grünen Scheiben, 'as out of green panes', turns the filtered sunlight into stained glass, the medium the approaching figure will seem to surface from.
6
white, a single figure
WordA figure before any face die Gestalt is a 'figure, form, shape', a person seen as an outline before identity is known. eine einzelne Gestalt, 'a single figure', is nominative singular, feminine, and is the subject of aufleuchtete two lines later.
7
lit up, only to stay long far away
GrammarA separable verb for flashing bright aufleuchtete is the preterite of the separable verb aufleuchten, 'to light up, flash into brightness', built from leuchten, 'to shine', with the prefix auf-. It is the long delayed verb for eine einzelne Gestalt two lines back.
8
and at last, by the down-drift of the light
WordA Rilke coinage for falling light Rilke builds this noun from das Licht, 'light', nieder, 'down', and treiben, 'to drive, drift': the driving down of light. Like many of his compounds, it appears only this once and takes dative case after von.
9
flooded over at every step,
WordTo flood or surge over überwallt is the past participle of überwallen, 'to surge over, flood over, boil over', from wallen, 'to seethe, billow'. The light does not merely fall on the figure, it überwallt, washing over it at every step.
10
to carry a bright flickering toward us on itself,
WordAn infinitive turned into a noun wechseln means 'to change, to alternate'; capitalized as das Wechseln it becomes a noun, 'a changing, an alternating'. ein helles Wechseln is 'a bright shifting', the play of light flickering across the moving figure.
Grammarzu inserted inside a separable verb herzutragen is the zu-infinitive of hertragen, 'to carry hither, bring this way', the prefix her- marking motion toward the speaker. The zu slots between prefix and verb, her-zu-tragen, as separable verbs require.
11
that shyly, in the blond, ran backward.
WordAn adjective treated as a place blond is normally an adjective, 'fair, blond'; Rilke nouns it as das Blond, dative after im. im Blond ... lief means 'ran in the blond', with lief the past tense of laufen, 'to run'.
12
But all at once the shadow was deep,
WordA fixed phrase for suddenly auf einmal is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'all at once, suddenly'. It combines the preposition auf with the adverb einmal, 'once', and functions here as a single adverbial unit modifying war.
13
and near eyes lay open,
Grammaraufschlagen, said of open eyes aufgeschlagen is the past participle of aufschlagen, 'to open', used of eyes or a book, literally 'to strike open'. Augen lagen aufgeschlagen means 'eyes lay opened', the same verb used for opening a book to a page.
14
in a new, distinct face,
WordDistinct, plainly defined deutlich means 'clear, distinct, plainly legible'. After the figure has been only a blurred white Gestalt in the light, the face arrives neu, 'new', and deutlich, 'distinct', resolving for one instant into a particular, sharp face.
15
which lingered as in a portrait
WordA word for a painted likeness das Bildnis is a 'portrait, likeness, painted image', related to das Bild, 'picture'. das wie in einem Bildnis verweilte means 'which lingered as in a portrait'; verweilen means 'to linger, to tarry'.
16
in the moment when the two again drew apart:
Grammarda meaning when, not there Here da is the literary temporal conjunction 'when, as', not the everyday 'there' or 'because', introducing da man sich wieder teilte, 'when one parted again'. sich teilen is the reflexive 'to part, divide'; man stands for the two walkers together.
17
first it was forever, and then it was not.
GrammarFirst, and then, a paired contrast erst ... und dann pairs 'first ... and then', setting two moments against each other. erst war es immer means 'first it was forever'; dann war es nicht means 'then it was not'. immer means 'always, forever'; es, 'it', leaves what is lost unnamed.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
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