German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Hund

The Dog

12 lines · 11 notes

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1
Up there the picture of a world is
Dathereda · adverbdepends on wird
obenaboveoben · adverbdepends on wird
wirdiswerden · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dastheder · determiner, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Bild
BildpictureBild · noun, nominative, neuter, singularsubject of wird
vonofvon · prepositiondepends on Bild
eineraein · determiner, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Welt
WeltworldWelt · noun, dative, feminine, singulardepends on von
WordAdverb pair opens the sentence da and oben are both adverbs, 'there' and 'above', combining to mean 'up there'. They stand first in the clause and depend on wird, which is delayed to third position. das Bild von einer Welt is the subject, 'the picture of a world'.
2
forever renewed from glances, and holds true.
Wordgelten, to hold true gilt comes from gelten, 'to be valid, to hold true'. aus Blicken is 'from glances' and immerfort is 'continually'. erneut is a predicate adjective completing wird, 'is renewed', not the adverb 'again'.
3
Only sometimes, in secret, a thing comes and sets
4
itself beside him, when through this picture he
GrammarReflexive verb split by the line sich belongs to stellt, which ends the previous line: stellt sich neben ihn, 'places itself beside him'. neben ihn is accusative, marking motion to a spot beside him, not a fixed location. ihn is the human being.
5
pushes through, far below, other, as he is;
Grammarsich drängen, to push through sich drängen means 'to press, push, crowd oneself'; with durch dieses Bild from the line above it is 'pushes through this picture'. wie er ist means 'as he is'. ganz unten is 'far below' and anders is 'other'.
6
not cast out and not ranked in,
GrammarTwo past participles negated ausgestoßen is the participle of ausstoßen, 'to expel, cast out'. eingereiht is the participle of einreihen, 'to slot into a row, rank in'. Both depend on an implied ist and are negated by the paired nicht ... und nicht.
7
and, as if in doubt, his reality
Wordwie standing in for a hypothetical Zweifel is 'doubt'; wie im Zweifel means 'as though in doubt'. Here wie carries that hypothetical sense rather than its usual meaning 'how'. seine Wirklichkeit, 'his reality', is the object of weggebend in the next line.
8
giving away to the picture, which he forgets,
GrammarPresent participle used adverbially weggebend is the present participle of weggeben, 'to give away, hand over', used here adverbially. an das Bild is accusative after weggeben. das er vergißt, 'which he forgets', is a relative clause; vergißt keeps the old ß spelling of vergessen.
9
only to hold his face, again and again,
Grammarum ... zu split across lines um opens a purpose clause, 'in order to', whose infinitive hineinzuhalten arrives only in the next line; German can stretch this frame across a line break. sein Gesicht, 'his face', is its object. dennoch is 'nevertheless' and immer wieder is 'again and again'.
10
into it, almost with a pleading,
Wordhineinhalten, to hold into hineinhalten means 'to hold something into or inside'. The zu-infinitive hineinzuhalten completes the um ... zu begun in the line above: 'in order to hold his face into it'. Flehen means 'pleading, entreaty', from flehen, 'to beseech'.
11
nearly comprehending, close to understanding,
WordA noun coined from a verb Einverstehen is Rilke's own noun, built from einverstanden sein, 'to be in agreement', and verstehen, 'to understand'; it names something like 'mutual understanding, accord'. begreifend is the present participle of begreifen, 'to grasp'. nah am is nah an dem, 'close to'.
12
and yet renouncing: for he would not be.
GrammarSubjunctive II with wäre wäre is the Konjunktiv II, or subjunctive, of sein, used for a contrary-to-fact condition: 'for he would not be'. verzichtend is the present participle of verzichten, 'to renounce, forgo'. doch here means 'yet'.

The particulars

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