German · New Poems

Das Einhorn

The Unicorn

18 lines · 17 notes

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1
The holy man lifted his head, and the prayer
DerTheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Heilige
Heiligeholy manHeilige · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of hob
hobliftedheben · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dashisder · determiner, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on Haupt
HauptheadHaupt · noun, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on hob
undandund · conjunctioncoordinates with fiel (next line)
dastheder · determiner, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Gebet
GebetprayerGebet · noun, nominative, neuter, singularsubject of fiel (next line)
GrammarAdjective used as a noun der Heilige is the adjective heilig used as a noun, 'the holy man, the saint'. It still declines like an adjective, so the nominative is der Heilige but the genitive is des Heiligen. das Haupt here is the elevated word for head.
2
fell back from his head like a helmet:
GrammarSeparable verb splits in the clause zurückfallen means 'to fall back', formed from fallen with the prefix zurück. In this main clause the prefix splits off and moves to the end, so fiel and zurück land apart: fiel … zurück.
3
for soundlessly the never-believed-in drew near,
Grammarsich nahen and word order after denn sich nahen is a reflexive verb meaning 'to draw near'. denn means 'for, because' but is a coordinating conjunction, so it does not send the verb to the end; nahte stays in second position right after denn.
4
the white beast, which like a stolen,
5
helpless hind pleads with its eyes.
WordA literary word for a doe Hindin is a literary word for a female deer, a hind, formed with the feminine suffix -in. Here it depends on wie in the previous line, comparing the unicorn's stance to a hind's. mit den Augen flehen means 'to plead with the eyes'.
6
The ivory framework of its legs
GrammarFronted genitive before its noun der Beine is genitive plural of das Bein, 'leg', and belongs to Gestell, 'framework': plain order would be das Gestell der Beine. Rilke moves the genitive to the front of the line. elfenbeinern means 'of ivory'.
7
moved in light equilibriums,
WordAn uncountable noun put in the plural Gleichgewicht means 'balance, equilibrium' and is normally uncountable. Here it stands in the dative plural, Gleichgewichten, treating each moment of balance as a separate instance. leichten is the dative plural of leicht, agreeing with it.
8
a white sheen glided blissfully through the coat,
GrammarA strong verb's vowel change glitt is the past tense of the strong verb gleiten, 'to glide', which shifts its vowel from ei to i: gleiten, glitt, geglitten. selig means 'blessed, blissful'. das Fell is an animal's coat, not human hair.
9
and on the beast's brow, on that still and luminous one,
Grammarauf with the dative for location auf takes the dative when it marks a fixed location, 'on', so die Tierstirn appears here as der Tierstirn. auf der stillen, lichten repeats the same noun with two adjectives, still and licht, 'luminous', both carrying the dative -en ending.
10
there stood, like a tower in the moon, the horn so bright,
GrammarVerb-second word order after an adverbial The line opens with the place phrase auf der Tierstirn, so the finite verb stand comes before its subject das Horn: 'on the brow stood the horn'. German keeps the verb in second position even when an adverbial fills the first slot, not the subject.
11
and every step happened to raise it up.
Grammarzu splits a separable infinitive aufrichten, 'to raise, set upright', is separable, so the zu of the infinitive slots between prefix and stem: auf-zu-richten. The clause es aufzurichten states purpose, 'to raise it up', with es pointing back to das Horn.
12
The muzzle, with its rose-grey down,
WordTwo plain vocabulary words das Maul is the mouth or muzzle of an animal, coarse if used of a person. der Flaum is soft down or fine fuzz, the first downy hair. rosagrau is a compound color, 'rose-grey'.
13
was lightly drawn back, so that a little white
GrammarA result clause introduced by so daß so daß means 'so that' and introduces a clause of result, sending its verb, glänzte, to the very end two lines later. daß is the pre-1996 spelling of dass, kept as printed. gerafft comes from raffen, 'to gather up, draw together'.
14
(whiter than anything) gleamed from the teeth;
GrammarComparative plus als for the standard weißer is the comparative of weiß, 'white', and the thing compared follows als, 'than': weißer als alles means 'whiter than anything'. It depends on ein wenig Weiß two lines above, the bit of white that glänzte, 'gleamed', from the teeth.
15
the nostrils took it in and panted softly.
GrammarSeparable verb splits across the clause The verb is aufnehmen, 'to take in, absorb'; in the main clause its prefix auf splits off and follows, nahmen … auf. die Nüstern are the nostrils. lechzen means 'to pant, gasp'; leis is the short poetic form of leise, 'softly'.
16
Yet its glances, which no thing confined,
GrammarObject-first order in a relative clause In die kein Ding begrenzte, die is the object and kein Ding, 'no thing', is the subject: 'which no thing bordered'. begrenzte, from begrenzen, 'to bound, limit', is singular, agreeing with kein Ding, not with die.
17
cast images for themselves into space
Grammarwerfen plus a dative reflexive warfen is the past of the strong verb werfen, 'to throw, cast'; its subject is seine Blicke, from the line above. The reflexive sich reads as a dative here, so the glances cast images for themselves. in den Raum takes the accusative, marking motion into a place.
18
and would close a blue circle of legend.
GrammarSubjunctive II by vowel umlaut schlössen is Subjunctive II of the strong verb schließen, 'to close', umlauting the past stem schlossen to schlössen. The mood marks the act as unreal or potential rather than plain fact. der Sagenkreis is a 'cycle of legend'.

The particulars

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