# Der König von Münster · The King of Münster

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-koenig-von-muenster. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-koenig-von-muenster.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Der König war geschoren;  
The king had been shorn;
> Past 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** nun ging ihm die Krone zu weit  
now the crown went too wide for him
> Dative 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** und bog ein wenig die Ohren,  
and bent his ears a little,
> Strong 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** in die von Zeit zu Zeit  
into which, from time to time,
> Relative 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** gehässiges Gelärme  
spiteful clamour
> The 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** aus Hungermäulern fand.  
found its way out of hungry mouths.
> A 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** Er saß, von wegen der Wärme,  
He sat, on account of the warmth,
> von 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** auf seiner rechten Hand,  
upon his right hand,


**9** mürrisch und schwergesäßig.  
sullen and heavy-rumped.
> A 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** Er fühlte sich nicht mehr echt:  
He no longer felt himself real:
> sich 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** der Herr in ihm war mäßig,  
the lord in him was middling,
> Moderate, 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** und der Beischlaf war schlecht.  
and the coupling was poor.
> A 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.

---

Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.