German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Fremde

The Stranger

25 lines · 24 notes

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1
Without a care for what those nearest thought,
Ohnewithoutohne · prepositionhead of the phrase
Sorgfalta careSorgfalt · noun, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on Ohne
waswhatwas · pronoun, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on dächten
diethoseder · determiner, nominative, pluraldepends on Nächsten
NächstennearestNächster · noun (substantivized adjective), nominative, pluralsubject of dächten
dächtenthoughtdenken · verb, subjunctive, past, third-person, pluraldepends on Sorgfalt
Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) of denken, not indicative past — marks reported/hypothetical thought.
GrammarSubjunctive reports others' thoughts dächten is Konjunktiv II of denken, 'to think'. After Ohne Sorgfalt, was ..., 'without a care for what ...', the subjunctive marks the thoughts of others as reported, hypothetical content rather than fact.
2
whom, weary, he no longer bid to ask,
GrammarVerb meaning to bid, plus bare infinitive heissen here means 'to bid, tell someone to do something' and takes a bare infinitive without zu: die er ... fragen hiess, 'whom he bid ask'. hiess is its past tense.
3
he went away again; lost, left behind—.
GrammarSeparable verb splits in the past fortgehen, 'to go away, depart', is separable; in the finite past the particle fort splits off to the clause end: ging er wieder fort, 'he went away again'.
4
For he was bound to nights of travel like these
GrammarVerb governs the dative an etwas hängen means 'to be attached to, cling to, be devoted to' something, and it governs the dative: hing an solchen Reisenächten, 'was attached to such nights of travel'. hing is the past of hängen.
5
otherwise than to any night of love.
GrammarClause completed across a stanza break The clause begun at the end of stanza 1, er hing an solchen Reisenächten, completes only here: anders als an jeder Liebesnacht, 'otherwise than to any night of love'. anders als means 'otherwise than, different from'.
6
Wondrous ones he had watched the whole night through,
WordInseparable prefix means all the way through durchwachen means 'to stay awake through, spend a night wakeful'. The inseparable prefix durch- here means 'all the way through': hatte er durchwacht, 'he had lain awake through them'.
7
which, overlaid with mighty stars,
WordPast participle for a coated surface überzogen is the past participle of überziehen, 'to cover over, coat, overlay'. mit starken Sternen überzogen means 'overlaid with mighty stars', describing the nights as a surface coated in starlight.
8
bent narrow distances apart
GrammarSeparable verb stays joined in a relative clause auseinanderbiegen, 'to bend apart, force open', is separable, but here it stays joined as auseinanderbogen because it closes the relative clause. Its object, enge Fernen, 'narrow distances', sits earlier in the clause.
9
and transformed themselves like a battle;
GrammarReflexive verb requires sich sich wandeln is the reflexive 'to change, transform oneself'; the reflexive pronoun sich is required. sich wandelten wie eine Schlacht means 'transformed themselves like a battle'.
10
others, which with villages strewn into the moon,
GrammarParticiple phrase with accusative direction gestreut is the participle of streuen, 'to scatter, strew'; mit in den Mond gestreuten Dörfern reads 'with villages scattered into the moonlight'. The accusative in den Mond marks direction.
11
as though with spoils held out,
WordSyncopated participle for the meter hingehaltnen is the syncopated participle of hinhalten, 'to hold out, proffer', with the -e- dropped for the meter. Beute means 'booty, spoils, prey'.
12
gave themselves up, or through spared
GrammarReflexive verb for surrender sich ergeben is the reflexive 'to surrender, give oneself up, yield'. die ... sich ergaben means 'which gave themselves up', the relative clause's verb, completing a thought begun two lines earlier.
13
parks revealed grey manor seats,
WordCompound noun for a manor house der Edelsitz is a noble's country seat or manor house, from edel, 'noble', and Sitz, 'seat, residence'. graue Edelsitze, 'grey manor seats', are glimpsed durch geschonte Parke, 'through spared parks'.
14
which he gladly, in his tilted
15
head, inhabited for a moment,
GrammarVerb takes an unusual dative location bewohnen, 'to dwell in, inhabit', normally takes an accusative object, here found earlier as die Edelsitze, die er ... bewohnte. The dative in dem hingeneigten Haupte, 'in his tilted head', marks where the memory briefly settled.
16
knowing more deeply that one stays nowhere;
GrammarImpersonal man with a negated verb man is the impersonal 'one, people'; daß man nirgends bleibt means 'that one stays nowhere'. daß with ß here is the pre-1996 spelling of the conjunction dass.
17
and already at the next bend he saw
GrammarInfinitive made into a noun Biegen is the infinitive biegen, 'to bend, turn', made into a neuter noun, 'the bend, the turn in the road'. bei dem nächsten Biegen means 'at the next bend'.
18
again roads, bridges, lands lie spread
GrammarVerb of perception with bare infinitive sehen, 'to see', takes a bare infinitive for perceived action: sah er ... liegen means 'he saw ... lie', that is, lying spread out. No zu is used, as with other perception verbs.
19
as far as cities one makes too much of.
WordVerb for exaggeration übertreiben means 'to exaggerate, overdo, make too much of'. Städte, die man übertreibt means 'cities that one overstates', the far towns that loom larger in anticipation than in fact.
20
And to let all this go, always desiring nothing,
WordNegated present participle unbegehrend is a negated present participle: un- plus begehrend, from begehren, 'to desire, covet', giving 'not desiring, coveting nothing'. It is used adverbially, describing how he lets the world pass.
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seemed to him more than the joy, the having,
Grammarzu-infinitive of a separable verb hinzulassen is the zu-infinitive of the separable hinlassen, 'to let go, let pass', with zu tucked between particle and stem. dies alles ... hinzulassen, 'to let all this go', is the subject of the sentence.
22
and the fame of his life.
GrammarGenitive placed before its nouns seines Lebens is the genitive 'of his life', placed before its nouns in older, elevated word order: seines Lebens Lust, Besitz und Ruhm, 'the joy, possession and fame of his life'.
23
Yet in foreign squares, the worn hollow of one
GrammarDative marks the one who perceives The dative ihm, 'to him', marks the one to whom something seems a certain way: war ihm ... wie ein Eigentum means 'was to him like a possession'. The subject is suspended across several lines.
24
daily-trodden well-stone
GrammarSyncopated participle from treading ausgetreten is the participle of austreten, 'to wear down by treading'; täglich ausgetretnen, 'daily worn smooth', has the syncopated ending used for the meter.
25
felt to him sometimes like a thing he owned.
WordTwo nouns close the sentence die Mulde is a hollow, trough, or worn depression, here the dip ground into a stone by years of footsteps. das Eigentum is 'property, possession, something owned'.

The particulars

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