German · New Poems

Das Kapitäl

The Capital

14 lines · 18 notes

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1
As, out of the spawn of a dream,
Wieaswie · subordinating conjunctiondepends on erhebt
sichitselfsich · pronoun, accusative, singular, reflexivedepends on erhebt
ausout ofaus · prepositiondepends on aufsteigend
einesaein · determiner, genitive, masculine, singulardepends on Traumes
Traumesdream'sTraum · noun, genitive, masculine, singulardepends on aus
AusgeburtenspawnAusgeburt · noun, dative, feminine, pluraldepends on aus
GrammarA genitive placed before its noun eines Traumes is the genitive of ein Traum, 'a dream', meaning 'of a dream'. German allows this genitive to stand before its noun, so aus eines Traumes Ausgeburten equals aus den Ausgeburten eines Traumes, 'out of a dream's spawn'. The ending -es on Traumes is an older genitive form, alongside the shorter Traums.
WordA word for monstrous offspring die Ausgeburt, literally 'out-birth', names a monstrous or grotesque product of the imagination, as in eine Ausgeburt der Hölle, 'a fiend of hell'. Here it appears in the plural, Ausgeburten, describing the forms that come out of a dream, aus eines Traumes Ausgeburten.
2
rising up out of a bewildering torment,
WordA collective noun for torment Gequäl is built on quälen, 'to torment', with the Ge- prefix that turns a repeated action into one collective noun, as in Gerede, 'endless talk'. So Gequäl names a confused, ongoing tormenting rather than a single act. It stands in the dative, depending on the preposition aus.
3
the next day lifts itself — so the ribs
GrammarA reflexive verb split apart erhebt is the third person singular present of erheben, used reflexively as sich erheben, 'to rise, raise itself'. Its subject is der nächste Tag, 'the next day', so the full sense is 'the next day raises itself'. German can place the reflexive pronoun sich earlier in a sentence, apart from its verb.
WordAn architectural term for ribs Gurt usually means a strap, girth, or band, but in architecture it names a transverse rib that spans across a vault. die Gurten here is the nominative plural, subject of gehn, 'go up'. The word points to the ribs of the vaulting rising above the carved capital.
4
of the vault go up out of the tangled capital
WordThe word for capital das Kapitäl, spelled today as Kapitell, is the carved block that crowns a column and supports the arch above it. wirren, from wirr, means 'tangled, confused', describing this particular capital. It is dative here because it follows the preposition aus, 'out of'.
5
and leave inside it, crowded and enigmatically
WordShort form of darin drin is the everyday short form of darin, 'in it, inside it'. It depends on the verb lassen and points back to something mentioned earlier in the sentence. Using the short form instead of darin is typical of spoken, informal German.
6
entwined, wing-beating creatures:
WordA compound built from two parts flügelschlagende joins Flügel, 'wing', with the participle of schlagen, 'to beat', to form one adjective meaning 'wing-beating'. It is inflected here as accusative neuter plural, agreeing with Geschöpfe, 'creatures'. German commonly fuses a noun and a verb this way to build a single descriptive word.
7
their hesitating, and the suddenness of the heads,
GrammarAn adjective used as a noun German can turn an adjective into a neuter noun by capitalizing it after das. plötzlich, 'sudden', becomes das Plötzliche, 'the sudden quality, the suddenness'. In the same line ihr Zögern does the same thing with the verb zögern, 'to hesitate', now used as a noun.
8
and those strong leaves whose sap
GrammarGenitive relative pronoun deren means 'whose, of which' and is the genitive form of the relative pronoun, here agreeing with the plural noun Blätter, 'leaves'. So jene starken Blätter, deren Saft means 'those strong leaves, whose sap'. It introduces a clause describing the leaves' sap.
9
rises like a fit of rage, at last overturning itself
WordA compound noun for sudden anger Jähzorn joins jäh, 'abrupt, sudden', with Zorn, 'wrath', to name a sudden burst of temper. It is nominative and depends on the verb steigt, 'rises', through the preposition wie, 'like'. The compound names one sudden feeling rather than anger in general.
GrammarAn inseparable reflexive verb überschlagen means 'to turn over, break over' and is used reflexively, sich überschlagen. As an inseparable verb its prefix über- never splits off from the stem, unlike a separable über- verb. Schließlich, 'at last', and sich together describe how Jähzorn, 'a fit of rage', steigt, 'rises'.
10
into a swift gesture that clenches
WordA reflexive verb for clenching sich ballen means 'to ball up, clench, gather into a mass', and it always takes the reflexive pronoun sich. die is the relative pronoun standing for Geste and is the subject of ballt. So die sich ballt reads 'that clenches itself'.
11
and holds itself out: driving everything upward,
GrammarPrefix stays on the participle aufwärtsjagend combines aufwärts, 'upward', with jagen, 'to chase, to drive, to race', meaning 'driving everything upward'. As a finite verb, jagen would separate from its prefix, as in es jagt alles aufwärts. As a present participle, the prefix stays attached to the verb.
12
which again and again, cold, with the darkness,
GrammarRelative pronoun after indefinites Here was means 'which, that which' and works as a relative pronoun; German uses was rather than das after indefinite words like alles, nichts, and etwas. It is the subject of the clause it introduces. immer wieder means 'again and again' and modifies the verb that follows.
13
falls back down, bearing care like rain
GrammarSeparable verb kept whole herunterfallen, 'to fall down', is a separable verb whose prefix herunter- usually detaches in a main clause. Here it stays attached because herunterfällt is the verb closing a relative clause. Herunter- names motion downward toward the speaker, unlike a general falling.
WordAn idiom built from tragen Sorge tragen literally means 'to bear care' but idiomatically means 'to see to, provide for, take care of' something. Sorge tragend is its present participle, 'bearing care, providing'. Here it describes how the falling stone acts, likened to rain in the same clause.
14
for this ancient growth's sustenance.
GrammarAnother genitive before its noun dieses alten Wachstums is a genitive phrase placed before the noun it modifies, Unterhalt, so für dieses alten Wachstums Unterhalt means 'for the sustenance of this ancient growth'. Wachstum means 'growth' and Unterhalt means 'upkeep, sustenance, nourishment'. The same fronted genitive pattern opens the poem with eines Traumes.

The particulars

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