German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der aussätzige König

The Leprous King

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1
Then on his brow the leprosy broke out
Dathenda · adverbdepends on trat
tratbroke outaustreten · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
aufonauf · prepositiondepends on trat
seinerhissein · determiner, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Stirn
StirnbrowStirn · noun, dative, feminine, singulardepends on auf
dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Aussatz
AussatzleprosyAussatz · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of trat
ausoutaus · particleseparable prefix of trat (austreten)
GrammarSeparable verb austreten austreten, 'to break out, to emerge', is separable: trat, the preterite of treten, carries its prefix aus to the end of the clause. auf seiner Stirn means 'on his brow', naming where the leprosy appeared.
WordNoun der Aussatz Aussatz means 'leprosy'. It is the nominative subject of the clause, with trat ... aus, 'broke out', as its verb. auf seiner Stirn, 'on his brow', marks where it appeared.
2
and all at once stood beneath his crown,
WordFixed phrase auf einmal auf einmal means 'all at once, suddenly'. und stand auf einmal unter seiner Krone means 'and suddenly stood beneath his crown'. unter here marks position beneath the crown he still wore.
3
as though he were king over all horror,
WordNoun der Graus Graus means 'horror, dread'. über allen Graus means 'over all horror', with Graus in the accusative after über, 'over'. als war er König means 'as though he were king', als introducing an unreal comparison.
4
that struck into the others, who stunned, beyond composure,
GrammarVerb fahren with in fuhr is the preterite of fahren, here used with in plus accusative to mean 'struck into, shot into'. der in die andern fuhr means 'that struck into the others'. der is the relative pronoun, subject of fuhr.
WordAdjective fassungsohne fassungsohne is built from Fassung, 'composure', and ohne, 'without', meaning 'without composure, stunned'. die fassungsohne ... hinstarrten, continuing into the next line, describes those struck by what they saw.
5
stared on toward the terrible reckoning
GrammarSeparable verb hinstarren hinstarrten is the past tense of hinstarren, 'to stare fixedly, to stare on', built from hin, marking direction away from the speaker, and starren, 'to stare'. nach dem ... Vollzug means 'toward the reckoning', the thing they stared at.
WordNoun der Vollzug Vollzug means 'execution, carrying out, reckoning', from vollziehen, 'to carry out, to execute'. dem furchtbaren Vollzug is dative after nach, 'toward the terrible reckoning', naming the dreadful event unfolding before them.
6
upon that one who, narrow as a man bound in cords,
GrammarDemonstrative jenem, dative jenem is the dative singular of jener, 'that one', referring to a person, object of the preposition an, 'upon'. welcher, 'who', begins the relative clause describing him, continuing with schmal wie ein Verschnürter, 'narrow as a bound man'.
WordNominalized participle Verschnürter Verschnürter is the past participle of verschnüren, 'to bind, to tie up with cord', used as a noun meaning 'a bound man'. wie ein Verschnürter compares him to someone tied up, describing how narrow and constrained he looks.
7
awaited that someone would strike at him;
Grammarerwartete, daß plus verb erwartete is the preterite of erwarten, 'to await, to expect'. After daß, schlug reports what he expected as something that might really happen: daß einer nach ihm schlug means 'that someone would strike at him'.
8
yet none was yet man enough:
WordGenitive Manns with genug Manns genug uses the old genitive of Mann, 'man', with genug, 'enough': 'man enough'. This genitive-plus-genug pattern is an older construction, now more often replaced by Mann genug without the ending.
9
as though it only made him ever more untouchable
Grammarals plus verb machte als here introduces an unreal comparison, 'as though'. machte, though it looks like an ordinary preterite of machen, 'to make', functions here in the older style as a past subjunctive: 'as though it made him'.
WordComparative unberührter unberührter is the comparative of unberührt, 'untouched, untouchable', itself built from berühren, 'to touch', with the negative prefix un-. immer unberührter means 'ever more untouchable', immer intensifying the comparative.
10
the new dignity that was transmitting itself.
GrammarReflexive verb übertragen sich übertragen means 'to transmit itself, to pass over'. die sich übertrug means 'that was transmitting itself', with die neue Würde, 'the new dignity', as its subject. übertrug is the preterite of übertragen.

The particulars

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