German · New Poems

Der König

The King

14 lines · 12 notes

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1
The king is sixteen years old.
Dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on König
KönigkingKönig · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of ist
istissein · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
sechzehnsixteensechzehn · numeraldepends on Jahre
JahreyearsJahr · noun, accusative, neuter, pluraldepends on alt
altoldalt · adjective, predicate (uninflected)depends on ist
GrammarAge with Jahre alt German states an age with the phrase Jahre alt placed after sein. Der König ist sechzehn Jahre alt means 'the king is sixteen years old'. Jahre stays in the accusative plural without an article, an accusative of extent, the same pattern as zwei Meter lang.
2
Sixteen years old, and already the state.
GrammarA clause missing its verb This line has no verb. Und schon der Staat drops ist and leaves the bare nominative der Staat, 'the state', after schon, 'already'. The parses confirm Staat is nominative, so an understood ist completes the sentence.
3
He looks out, as if from an ambush,
WordAn ambush in German Der Hinterhalt is an 'ambush', a hidden place from which someone watches or strikes unseen. Wie aus einem Hinterhalt means 'as though from an ambush'. Wie here means 'as, as though' and introduces the comparison. Einem is dative after aus.
4
past the graybeards of the council
GrammarGoverns the dative case Vorbei an means 'past, going past' and takes the dative. An den Greisen is dative plural, 'past the old men'. Der Greis is an aged man. Vom, a contraction of von dem, gives 'of the council', der Rat.
5
into the hall and off somewhere,
GrammarDoubling the preposition with hin- Hinein means 'in, inward, away from the speaker' and reinforces the motion already carried by in den Saal, accusative of direction, 'into the hall'. German often pairs a preposition with hin- or her- to mark a path of motion. Irgendwohin means 'to somewhere or other'.
6
and feels perhaps only this:
7
at his narrow, long, hard chin
GrammarDative marks a point of contact An with the dative marks where something rests or touches: an dem Kinn means 'at the chin'. The three adjectives schmalen, langen, and harten each take the dative ending -en after dem, agreeing with Kinn.
8
the cold chain of the Fleece.
9
The death sentence before him stays
WordDeath sentence, a compound noun Todesurteil combines Tod, 'death', and Urteil, 'judgment, verdict'. Das Todesurteil means a death sentence, here a document awaiting the king's signature. Vor ihm is dative after vor, marking location, 'before him'. Todesurteil is the neuter subject of bleibt.
10
long without a signature.
WordSignature as a written stroke Der Namenszug literally means 'stroke of the name', built from Name and Zug, 'stroke, line'. It names a signature or autograph. Ohne Namenszug means 'without a signature'. Lang here is an adverb meaning 'for a long time', not an adjective.
11
And they think: how he is tormenting himself.
GrammarReflexive verb sich quälen Sich quälen is reflexive, meaning 'to torment oneself, to suffer'. Sich is the accusative reflexive pronoun referring back to er. Wie here is exclamatory, 'how...!', not a question, so wie er sich quält means 'how he torments himself'.
12
They would know, if they knew him well enough,
GrammarConditional clause without wenn Both verbs are Konjunktiv II. Wüßten, from wissen, means 'would know'; kennten, from kennen, means 'knew'. German can drop wenn, 'if', and front the verb instead: kennten sie ihn genug stands for wenn sie ihn genug kennten, 'if they knew him well enough'.
13
that he is only slowly counting to seventy,
GrammarThe verb moves to the end Daß, the older spelling of dass, 'that', is a subordinating conjunction, so its finite verb zählt, 'counts', moves to the end of the clause, after nur langsam bis siebzig, 'only slowly up to seventy'. This clause completes Sie wüßten from the line above.
14
before he signs it.
GrammarInseparable prefix on unterschreiben Unterschreiben means 'to sign, to put one's name under'. It is inseparable, so the prefix unter- stays fixed to the stem, and unterschreibt sits at the end of the clause introduced by eh, a short form of ehe, 'before'. Es refers back to the death sentence.

The particulars

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