German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Junggeselle

The Bachelor

22 lines · 22 notes

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1
A lamp upon the abandoned papers,
LampeA lampLampe · noun, nominative, feminine, singularhead of the phrase
aufuponauf · prepositiondepends on Lampe
dentheder · determiner, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on Papieren
verlassenenabandonedverlassen · adjective, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on Papieren
PapierenpapersPapier · noun, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on auf
WordPast participle used as adjective verlassenen is the past participle of verlassen, 'to leave, to abandon', used here as an adjective meaning 'abandoned'. It takes the dative plural ending -en to agree with Papieren after den.
2
and all around night, far in into the wood
GrammarMotion inward, away from speaker hinein means 'into there', motion inward and away from the speaker, unlike herein, motion toward the speaker. bis weit hinein ins Holz means 'far in, into the wood [of the cabinets]'.
3
of the cabinets. And he could lose himself
GrammarA reflexive verb sich verlieren means 'to lose oneself, to get lost'. sich is the reflexive pronoun, the object of the action turned back on the subject er. Note that der Schränke, 'of the cabinets', belongs to the previous line; the clause break falls mid-line.
4
in his lineage, which now melted away with him;
WordFamily line, not gender Geschlecht can mean 'gender' or 'sex', but here it carries the older sense of 'lineage, family line'. sein Geschlecht, 'his lineage', is what zerschmolz, 'melted away', together with him.
5
it seemed to him, the more he read, that he had theirs,
GrammarComparative sets up a proportion je mehr er las means 'the more he read'. The je plus comparative pattern sets up a proportion, usually completed by desto or umso. er hätte uses hätte, the subjunctive of haben, because the clause reports only what seemed to be so.
6
but they all had his pride.
WordA noun meaning pride Stolz means 'pride'. It is accusative singular, object of hatten, 'had': sie ... hatten ... seinen Stolz, 'they had his pride'.
7
Haughtily the empty chairs stiffened themselves
GrammarA reflexive verb, stiffened steiften sich means 'stiffened themselves', from steifen, 'to stiffen', with the reflexive pronoun sich. Hochmütig, 'haughtily', and die leeren Stühle, 'the empty chairs', are the subject performing the reflexive action.
8
along the wall, and sheer self-regard
GrammarPreposition follows its noun entlang, 'along', is a preposition that here follows its noun rather than preceding it: die Wand entlang means 'along the wall'. This word order is normal for entlang with the accusative.
9
spread themselves drowsily through the furniture;
GrammarAn idiom, to spread out sich breitmachen literally means 'to make oneself broad', an idiom for 'to spread out, to sprawl'. machten sich ... breit splits the idiom apart: machten is the verb, sich the reflexive pronoun, breit the predicate adjective at the end.
10
from above the night poured itself onto the pendulum clock,
WordA French loanword for clock Pendüle means 'pendulum clock', a French loanword. It is accusative singular after auf: die Pendüle, 'onto the [pendulum] clock'.
11
and trembling there ran out of its golden mill,
GrammarSimple past of to flow rann is the simple past, third-person singular, of rinnen, 'to run, to trickle, to flow'. zitternd modifies the same subject, 'shaking', and aus ihrer goldnen Mühle means 'out of its golden mill'.
12
ground entirely fine, his time.
WordGround fine, like grain gemahlen is the past participle of mahlen, 'to grind', as grain is ground in a mill. ganz fein gemahlen means 'ground entirely fine', describing seine Zeit, 'his time'.
13
He did not take them. To drag away, feverishly, among those,
GrammarOpening an in-order-to clause Um here begins an um ... zu construction, 'in order to', completed later by wegzuzerrn. The infinitive clause explains the unstated purpose behind the sentence before it, Er nahm sie nicht.
14
as if he were pulling the sheets from their bodies,
GrammarSubjunctive for an imagined act als zöge er uses zöge, the Konjunktiv II (subjunctive) of ziehen, 'to pull'. als plus the subjunctive means 'as though', describing an imagined action rather than a real one: 'as though he were pulling the sheets'.
15
to wrench other ages away.
GrammarInfinitive completes a purpose clause wegzuzerrn is the infinitive of wegzerren, 'to wrench away, to drag off', with zu inserted for the infinitive construction begun by Um two lines above. andre Zeiten wegzuzerrn means 'to wrench other ages away'.
16
Until he fell to whispering; (what was far from him?)
GrammarAn idiom, to fall to whispering ins Flüstern kommen is an idiom meaning 'to fall to whispering, to start whispering'. ins contracts in plus das; kam is the simple past of kommen, 'to come'.
17
He praised one of these letter-writers,
WordOne of these, genitive plural Briefeschreiber, 'letter-writers', is genitive plural after dieser in the phrase einen dieser Briefeschreiber, 'one of these letter-writers'. This construction uses the genitive-plural form dieser even though einen is singular, since the noun names the group being drawn from.
18
as if the letter were to him: how well you know me;
GrammarSubjunctive marking an unreal claim als sei der Brief uses sei, the Konjunktiv I (subjunctive) of sein, 'to be'. als plus the subjunctive again means 'as though': 'as though the letter were addressed to him'.
19
and tapped merrily on the armrests.
WordCompound noun for armrests Seitenlehnen means 'armrests', literally 'side-rests', a compound of Seite, 'side', and Lehne, 'rest, support'. It is accusative plural after auf die, 'on the'.
20
But the mirror, more boundless within,
WordComparative form of unbegrenzt unbegrenzter is the comparative of unbegrenzt, 'boundless, unlimited', used adverbially: innen unbegrenzter means 'more boundless within'. unbegrenzt itself combines un-, the negating prefix, with begrenzt, 'bounded'.
21
softly let out a curtain, a window —:
GrammarSeparable verb, lassen ... aus auslassen means 'to let out, to leave out'. ließ ... aus splits the separable verb across the clause: ließ is the finite verb, aus the stranded prefix at the end, 'let out a curtain, a window'.
22
for there stood, almost finished, the ghost.
WordThe noun for a ghost Gespenst means 'ghost, apparition'. dorten is an archaic or poetic form of dort, 'there'. denn dorten stand ... das Gespenst means 'for there stood ... the ghost'.

The particulars

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