# Der König · The King

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

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

**1** Der König ist sechzehn Jahre alt.  
The king is sixteen years old.
> Age 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** Sechzehn Jahre und schon der Staat.  
Sixteen years old, and already the state.
> A 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** Er schaut, wie aus einem Hinterhalt,  
He looks out, as if from an ambush,
> An 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** vorbei an den Greisen vom Rat  
past the graybeards of the council
> Governs 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** in den Saal hinein und irgendwohin  
into the hall and off somewhere,
> Doubling 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** und fühlt vielleicht nur dies:  
and feels perhaps only this:

**7** an dem schmalen langen harten Kinn  
at his narrow, long, hard chin
> Dative 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** die kalte Kette vom Vlies.  
the cold chain of the Fleece.


**9** Das Todesurteil vor ihm bleibt  
The death sentence before him stays
> Death 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** lang ohne Namenszug.  
long without a signature.
> Signature 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** Und sie denken: wie er sich quält.  
And they think: how he is tormenting himself.
> Reflexive 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** Sie wüßten, kennten sie ihn genug,  
They would know, if they knew him well enough,
> Conditional 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** daß er nur langsam bis siebzig zählt,  
that he is only slowly counting to seventy,
> The 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** eh er es unterschreibt.  
before he signs it.
> Inseparable 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.

---

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.