German · New Poems: The Other Part

Dame vor dem Spiegel

Lady Before the Mirror

14 lines · 20 notes

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

1
As in a sleeping-draught spices,
WieAswie · subordinating conjunctiondepends on löst
ininin · prepositiondepends on löst
einemaein · determiner, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Schlaftrunk
Schlaftrunksleeping-draughtSchlaftrunk · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on in
SpezereinspicesSpezerei · noun, nominative, feminine, pluralsubject of the comparison, parallel to sie/löst
archaic poetic plural of Spezerei (spice, aromatic substance).
WordCompound noun for a nightcap der Schlaftrunk is a 'sleeping draught, nightcap', from Schlaf, 'sleep', and Trunk, 'draught, drink'. Spezerein is an old poetic plural of die Spezerei, 'spices, aromatics'.
2
she gently dissolves, in the fluid-clear
GrammarReflexive sense of a verb lösen means 'to loosen, release', and reflexively or with an object, 'to dissolve'. The clause is inverted so löst, picking up the Wie-simile of the line before, stands first: 'she dissolves'.
WordCoined compound adjective flüssigklar is a coined compound of flüssig, 'fluid, liquid', and klar, 'clear': 'fluid-clear, liquidly transparent'. It modifies Spiegel, 'mirror', in the next line.
3
mirror, her wearied bearing;
WordNoun for a manner of conduct das Gebaren is 'conduct, demeanour, bearing', the manner one carries oneself, related to sich gebärden, 'to behave'. ermüdet is the past participle of ermüden, 'to tire', used adjectivally: 'wearied'.
4
and she puts her smile right into it.
GrammarSeparable verb ends the clause hineintun means 'to put into'; it is separable, hinein plus tun. In this main clause the stem tut stands second while the prefix hinein drops to the end: sie tut ihr Lächeln ganz hinein.
5
And she waits for the liquid
GrammarOlder spelling of daß daß here is the older spelling of modern dass, 'that', kept as Rilke printed it before the 1996 spelling reform changed ß to ss after a short vowel. As a subordinating conjunction it sends its verb to the clause's end.
6
to rise off it; then she pours her hair
WordPronominal adverb for from it steigen means 'to rise, climb'. davon is a pronominal adverb, 'from it, off that', referring back to the smile and bearing dissolved before. davon steigt means 'rises off it'.
WordVerb for pouring liquid giessen means 'to pour', said of a liquid; giesst is its third-person singular form. She does not let her hair fall but giesst ... ihre Haare, 'pours her hair'.
7
into the mirror and, raising the wondrous
GrammarAccusative marks motion into in den Spiegel is accusative, den being the masculine accusative of der Spiegel, the case German uses with in for motion into something, 'into the mirror'. This differs from the dative in dem Spiegel, 'in the mirror', used earlier.
8
shoulder up out of the evening gown,
GrammarPresent participle used adverbially hebend is the present participle of heben, 'to lift, raise'. German forms it with -end, like English -ing, and uses it adverbially: die wunderbare Schulter hebend aus dem Abendkleid, 'raising the shoulder out of the evening gown'.
9
she drinks, quietly, from her image. She drinks
GrammarVerb governs aus plus dative trinken aus means 'to drink from, out of'; aus governs the dative, ihrem Bild, dative of das Bild, 'image, reflection'. The long sentence begun earlier finally lands its finite verb here: trinkt sie still aus ihrem Bild.
10
what a lover, in his rapture, would drink,
GrammarSubjunctive marks a hypothetical tränke is the Konjunktiv II, past subjunctive, of trinken, 'to drink': 'would drink'. It marks the clause was ein Liebender im Taumel tränke, 'what a lover, in his rapture, would drink', as hypothetical, not fact.
WordNoun for dizzy self-loss der Taumel is 'reeling, giddiness, intoxicated frenzy', from taumeln, 'to stagger, reel'. im Taumel means 'in a rapture, in a swoon'.
11
testing, full of mistrust; and she beckons
WordPresent participle used adverbially prüfend is the present participle of prüfen, 'to test, examine, scrutinize', used adverbially, 'testingly'. das Mißtrauen, spelled Mißtraun here and shortened for the meter, means 'mistrust, distrust'.
WordVerb for a summoning gesture winken means 'to wave, beckon, signal'; winkt is its third-person singular form. Here it is the gesture by which she summons her maid, sie winkt erst der Zofe, 'she beckons the maid only'.
12
the maid only when, on the bottom
Grammarerst plus wenn means not until erst with a time clause means 'not until, only when'. sie winkt erst der Zofe, wenn ... is 'she beckons the maid only when ...'. der Zofe is dative, the indirect object of winken; die Zofe means 'lady's maid'.
WordNoun for the bottom of water der Grund means 'ground, bottom, floor', here the bottom of a body of water. auf dem Grunde is an old dative form of the modern auf dem Grund, 'on the bottom'.
13
of her mirror she finds lights, cupboards,
GrammarGenitive placed before its noun ihres Spiegels is genitive, 'of her mirror', placed before its noun Grunde across the line break, an elevated, slightly archaic word order: auf dem Grunde ihres Spiegels, 'on the bottom of her mirror'.
WordPlural noun with umlaut der Schrank is 'cupboard, wardrobe, cabinet'; its plural takes an umlaut, die Schränke. Lichter, plural of das Licht, 'light', and Schränke are ordinary furnishings surfacing in the mirror.
14
and the dimness of a late hour.
WordAdjective nominalized into a noun trübe is an adjective meaning 'cloudy, dim, murky, gloomy'; capitalized and preceded by das, it becomes a noun, das Trübe, 'the dimness, the murk'. einer späten Stunde means 'of a late hour'.

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