German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der König von Münster

The King of Münster

12 lines · 11 notes

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1
The king had been shorn;
Dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on König
KönigkingKönig · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on war
warhad beensein · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
geschorenshornscheren · verb, participledepends on war
WordPast participle of scheren scheren means to shear or shave, as one shears a sheep. geschoren is its strong past participle. war geschoren reads as a passive-like past, 'had been shorn', describing the king's head clipped bare.
2
now the crown went too wide for him
GrammarDative marks who is affected ihm is dative, 'to him', not the subject of the sentence. die Krone, 'the crown', is the subject of ging, past of gehen. ging ihm die Krone zu weit means the crown became too wide for him.
3
and bent his ears a little,
GrammarStrong past of biegen biegen, 'to bend', is a strong verb: past bog, participle gebogen. The subject carried over from the line before is die Krone, so it is the crown that bog ein wenig die Ohren, 'bent his ears a little'.
4
into which, from time to time,
GrammarRelative pronoun after a preposition die is a relative pronoun referring back to die Ohren, 'the ears'. in takes the accusative because something moves into them. The sentence continues across the stanza break, in die von Zeit zu Zeit meaning 'into which, from time to time'.
5
spiteful clamour
WordThe Ge- collective noun The prefix Ge-, often with an -e ending, forms a noun naming a continuous mass of something. Lärm, 'noise', becomes Gelärme, a din or racket. gehässiges means 'spiteful', giving gehässiges Gelärme, 'spiteful clamour'.
6
found its way out of hungry mouths.
WordA coined compound, dative plural Hungermäulern joins Hunger, 'hunger', with Mäuler, the plural of Maul, an animal's mouth used contemptuously for a human's. The -n ending marks dative plural after aus. fand, past of finden, completes the sentence begun two lines earlier.
7
He sat, on account of the warmth,
Grammarvon wegen takes the genitive von wegen means 'because of, on account of' and governs the genitive, here der Wärme, genitive of die Wärme, 'warmth'. Er saß, von wegen der Wärme reads 'he sat, on account of the warmth'.
8
upon his right hand,
9
sullen and heavy-rumped.
WordA compound adjective coinage schwergesäßig is not a standard word. It joins schwer, 'heavy', with Gesäß, 'backside', plus the adjective ending -ig, meaning 'heavy in the seat'. mürrisch means 'sullen', giving 'sullen and heavy-rumped'.
10
He no longer felt himself real:
Grammarsich fühlen with an adjective sich fühlen, 'to feel oneself to be', takes a bare adjective as its complement, so sich echt fühlen means 'to feel real, genuine'. nicht mehr means 'no longer', giving 'he no longer felt real'.
11
the lord in him was middling,
WordModerate, or mediocre mäßig means 'moderate, modest in degree', and in everyday use also 'middling, not up to much'. der Herr, 'the lord', is the subject of war, so der Herr in ihm war mäßig means 'the lord in him was middling'.
12
and the coupling was poor.
WordA formal word for sex Beischlaf, literally 'a lying beside', is a dry, formal German term for sexual intercourse. der Beischlaf war schlecht uses schlecht, 'bad, poor', as the predicate adjective completing war.

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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