German · New Poems: The Other Part

Das Bett

The Bed

16 lines · 20 notes

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1
Let her suppose that in private
LaßLetlassen · verb, imperative, second-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
siehersie · pronoun, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on Laß
meinensupposemeinen · verb, infinitivedepends on Laß
daßthatdaß · subordinating conjunctiondepends on löst
sichitselfsich · pronoun, accusative, singular, reflexivedepends on löst
ininin · prepositiondepends on löst
privaterprivateprivat · adjective, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Wehmut
GrammarImperative plus bare infinitive Lass is the imperative of lassen, 'to let, allow'. Followed by a bare infinitive, meinen, it forms the causative, 'let her suppose, make her think'. sie is the accusative object of lassen and the subject of meinen.
GrammarAdjective separated from its noun privater is a feminine dative adjective whose noun, Wehmut, only arrives at the start of the next line: in privater Wehmut. German lets an attributive adjective sit apart from its noun across a line break.
2
melancholy dissolves what someone contended there.
WordNoun for tender sadness Wehmut is 'melancholy, plaintive sorrow', a wistful sadness rather than sharp pain. It is built from weh, 'aching, sore', and Mut, here in its old sense 'state of mind'.
WordVerb with two related meanings bestritt is the simple past of bestreiten, which can mean both 'to dispute, deny' and 'to fight out, contest'. was einer dort bestritt means 'what someone there contested'.
3
Nowhere else but there is a theater;
WordFixed phrase for nowhere else nirgend is a poetic short form of nirgends, 'nowhere'; sonst means 'else, otherwise'; da points back to the bed. Nirgend sonst als da means 'nowhere else but there'.
4
tear the high curtain away–; there steps
GrammarSeparable verb in the imperative fortreissen, 'to tear away, wrench off', is separable; in the imperative the prefix fort moves to the end of the clause: reiss den hohen Vorhang fort, 'tear the high curtain away'.
GrammarVerb held back, subject delayed further da tritt, 'there steps', begins a sentence whose subject does not appear until later, jene Stunde, in the next stanza. Rilke ends this line on the bare stem tritt, part of the separable verb auftreten, 'to step forward, make an entrance'.
5
before the chorus of nights, which began
6
to speak an endlessly wide song,
Grammarzu-infinitive completes the verb beginnen governs a zu-infinitive: der begann ... ein Lied zu sagen, 'which began to speak a song'. The infinitive zu sagen is held to the end of the clause, completing begann from the line above.
7
that hour, the hour at which they lay,
GrammarDelayed subject with a separable verb jene Stunde, 'that hour', is the long-delayed subject of da tritt ... auf from the earlier stanza; auf is the separable prefix completing auftreten, 'to make an entrance'.
GrammarRelative clause with dative pronoun bei der sie lagen means 'at, during which they lay'. The relative pronoun der is feminine dative, governed by bei, and refers back to Stunde. lagen is the plural simple past of liegen, 'to lie'.
8
and rends her garment and accuses herself,
GrammarSeparable reflexive verb for self-accusation anklagen, 'to accuse', is separable; with the reflexive sich it means 'to accuse oneself'. The prefix an strands at the clause end: klagt sich ... an, 'accuses herself'.
9
for the sake of the other, for the hour's sake,
GrammarTwo-part preposition with genitive um ... willen is a two-part preposition meaning 'for the sake of', and it takes the genitive: um der Stunde willen, 'for the hour's sake'. The genitive nouns sit inside the frame, with willen closing it.
10
which resists and writhes in the background;
WordTwo reflexive verbs paired by sound sich wehren, 'to resist, defend oneself', and sich wälzen, 'to roll, writhe, toss', are paired reflexive verbs. im Hintergrunde means 'in the background'.
11
for she could not still it within herself.
GrammarCoordinating conjunction keeps normal order denn, 'for, because', is a coordinating conjunction, so unlike weil it does not push the verb to the end: denn sie konnte ... keeps normal main-clause word order.
WordVerb for soothing or settling stillen means 'to still, soothe, quiet', also 'to satisfy' a hunger or thirst, or to nurse an infant. mit sich ... stillen means settling something within oneself.
12
But when she, to the strange hour,
Grammarda as a temporal conjunction Here da is not the adverb 'there' but the conjunction 'when, since, as', introducing a subordinate clause. It sends the verb to the end, which lands as sich gebeugt in the next line.
13
had bent down: there was upon her,
GrammarParticiple closes a da-clause sich beugen means 'to bend, bow down'. The past participle gebeugt closes the da-clause opened in the line before, with the auxiliary hat elided, as verse sometimes allows.
14
what she had once found in the beloved,
WordAdjectival noun in the dative der Geliebte, 'the beloved man', is an adjectival noun, declined like an adjective; am Geliebten equals an dem Geliebten, dative, 'in, on the beloved'. einst means 'once, formerly'.
15
only joined so threateningly and so vast
WordPast participle used as adjective verbunden is the past participle of verbinden, 'to join, bind, connect'. Here it works as an adjective describing what was found, now 'bound together' so drohend und so groß, 'so threatening and so vast'.
16
and withdrawn as if in an animal.
WordPast participle for withdrawal entzogen is the past participle of entziehen, 'to withdraw, remove, deprive'. Paired with verbunden in the line before, it leaves the thing both bound and pulled away, wie in einem Tier, 'as though in an animal'.

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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