German · New Poems

Der Engel

The Angel

12 lines · 13 notes

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1
With a single bowing of his brow he waves
Mitwithmit · prepositiondepends on weist
einemaein · determiner, dative, neuter, singulardepends on Neigen
Neigenbowingneigen · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on Mit
seinerhissein · determiner, genitive, feminine, singulardepends on Stirne
StirnebrowStirne · noun, genitive, feminine, singulardepends on Neigen
weistwavesweisen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
Wordweisen can mean to send away weisen usually means 'to point, direct, show', but in von sich weisen it means 'to refuse, to send away from oneself'. The object of weist, was einschränkt und verpflichtet, arrives at the end of the next line, split by the line break.
2
far from himself whatever confines and binds;
GrammarA clause completed across two lines The clause begun in the line before finishes here: er weist weit von sich … was einschränkt und verpflichtet, 'he points far away from himself whatever confines and obliges'. was introduces a free relative clause, the object of weist.
3
for through his heart there moves, immense, erect,
GrammarA participle used adverbially aufgerichtet is the past participle of aufrichten, 'to raise, set upright', used here adverbially: 'raised up, towering, erect'. riesig, 'gigantic', modifies it. The fronted denn durch sein Herz geht pushes the subject to the next line.
4
the eternally coming, which circles.
GrammarA present participle used as a noun das Kommende is a neuter substantivized present participle, 'that which is coming'. German freely turns adjectives and participles into nouns this way, capitalized with das. ewig, 'eternally', qualifies it; das kreist means 'which circles'.
5
The deep heavens stand for him full of figures,
Grammarvoll governing a bare noun voll, 'full of', can govern a noun directly without von and without an article: voll Gestalten means 'full of figures'. ihm is a dative of interest, 'for him'. Gestalt is a form, shape, or figure.
6
and each can call to him: come, know me–.
GrammarImperatives with the final -e dropped komm and erkenn are both du-imperatives with the final -e dropped, as is normal in speech and verse: komm(e) from kommen, erkenn(e) from erkennen, 'to recognize, know'. The dash after erkenn leaves the command unfinished.
7
Give his light hands nothing to hold
Grammargeben with a dative and accusative object Gib is the imperative of geben. It takes a dative recipient, seinen leichten Händen, 'to his light hands', and an accusative object, nichts, 'nothing'. zu halten is an infinitive of purpose: 'nothing to hold'.
8
out of what weighs on you. Or else they would come
WordA participle naming what weighs on you das Lastende is a substantivized participle from lasten, 'to weigh, press heavily upon': 'that which burdens'. In the dative after aus, aus deinem Lastenden means 'out of what weighs on you'.
Grammarkämen plus denn for an old warning kämen is Konjunktiv II of kommen, 'they would come'. With denn at the end, sie kämen denn is an old conditional turn meaning 'for otherwise they would come, unless…', the warning the rest of the stanza spells out.
9
by night to you, to test you more wrestlingly,
WordA coined comparative adverb ringender is coined from ringen, 'to wrestle, struggle', as a comparative adverb: 'more wrestlingly, with more of a struggle'. dich … zu prüfen means 'to test you'; the angels would come at night to try you harder.
10
and would go like enraged men through the house
WordA participle naming angry people Erzürnte is a substantivized participle of erzürnen, 'to anger, enrage': 'angered, wrathful ones'. wie Erzürnte means 'like people in a fury'. gingen continues the subjunctive chain from kämen; the angels would do all this.
11
and would seize you, as though they created you,
Grammarals ob plus the unreal mood als ob, 'as though', triggers the subjunctive. erschüfen is Konjunktiv II of erschaffen, 'to create', with the umlaut typical of a strong verb's subjunctive: 'as though they were creating you'.
12
and would break you out of your own shape.
GrammarA separable verb split by the line herausbrechen, 'to break out', is separable: its prefix heraus lands at the very end of the line, brächen … heraus. brächen is Konjunktiv II of brechen, 'to break'. aus deiner Form means 'out of your form, shape'.

The particulars

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