German · New Poems

Der letzte Graf von Brederode entzieht sich türkischer Gefangenschaft

The Last Count of Brederode Escapes Turkish Captivity

14 lines · 14 notes

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1
They pursued terribly; their gaudy death
Sietheysie · pronoun, nominative, pluraldepends on folgten
folgtenpursuedfolgen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
furchtbarterriblyfurchtbar · adverbdepends on folgten
ihrentheirihr · determiner, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on Tod
buntengaudybunt · adjective, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on Tod
ToddeathTod · noun, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on werfend
WordBunt means many colored Bunt means 'multicolored, motley, gaudy'. Ihren bunten Tod uses the accusative ending en on bunten because Tod is the object of werfend in the next line. Ihren, 'their', also takes the accusative to agree with Tod.
2
hurling it at him from afar, while he
GrammarPresent participle compresses a clause Werfend, 'throwing, hurling', is the present participle of werfen. German uses such participles to compress a subordinate action into one word, so ihren Tod nach ihm werfend means 'throwing their death at him'. Nach ihm takes the dative. Während, 'while', opens a clause whose verb comes at the end of the next line.
3
fled, lost, nothing more than: threatened.
GrammarPast participle stands alone Bedroht is the past participle of bedrohen, 'to threaten'. It stands alone after the colon as a complete predicate: nichts weiter als bedroht means 'nothing more than threatened'. No noun or verb of being is needed to complete the sense.
4
The distance of his fathers seemed no longer
WordGenitive plural of fathers Die Ferne means 'the distance, the far horizon'. Seiner Väter is genitive plural, 'of his fathers'. The sentence does not end here. It continues past the stanza break into für ihn zu gelten in the next stanza.
5
to hold for him; for to flee like this,
GrammarPurpose clause with so Um plus zu with an infinitive again marks purpose: um so zu fliehn means 'in order to flee like this'. So, 'thus, in this way', refers back to the flight just described. The clause sets up the claim in the next line that any hunted animal would suffice for such flight.
6
an animal before hunters suffices. Until the river
GrammarGenügen with vor and dative Genügen means 'to suffice, to be enough'. Vor takes the dative here, so vor Jägern means 'before hunters' or 'in the face of hunters'. Genügt ein Tier vor Jägern means 'an animal before hunters suffices'. Bis, 'until', introduces the next clause about the river.
7
rushed up near and flashing. A resolve
WordSeparable verb fused in subordinate clause Aufrauschen joins auf, 'up', to rauschen, 'to rush, roar, murmur', naming a sudden roaring rise of water. Aufrauschte is its simple past form. Separable verbs stay fused, not split, in a subordinate clause, here one introduced by bis. Blitzend, 'flashing', is the present participle of blitzen.
8
lifted him together with his distress and made him
GrammarSamt takes the dative Samt is a preposition meaning 'together with, along with', and it governs the dative, so samt seiner Not means 'together with his distress'. Hob is the simple past of heben, 'to lift'. The sentence continues past the stanza break to wieder zum Knaben in the next stanza.
9
once more a boy of princely blood.
GrammarGenitive describing a person's kind Das Geblüt means 'blood, lineage, stock'. Fürstlichen Geblütes is a genitive of quality, with the strong adjective ending en and the noun ending es, meaning 'of princely blood'. German uses this bare genitive to describe what kind of person someone is.
10
A smile of noble women poured
GrammarGießen becomes goß in the past Goß, spelled goss in modern German, is the simple past of the strong verb gießen, 'to pour'. Adeliger Frauen is genitive plural, 'of noble women'. The sentence spans two lines, and the object of goß, Süßigkeit, 'sweetness', does not arrive until the next line.
11
once more sweetness into his premature,
WordVerfrüht means arriving too early Verfrüht means 'premature, too early'. It modifies Gesicht, 'face', across the line break, in sein verfrühtes vollendetes Gesicht, 'his premature, perfected face'. The in phrase before it takes the accusative, marking motion into the face.
12
perfected face. He forced his steed,
WordStrong past of zwingen Zwang is the strong past of zwingen, 'to force, compel'. Das Roß, spelled Ross in modern German, is a high poetic word for a horse, a steed, rather than the everyday Pferd. Vollendet, 'perfected, consummate', continues to describe Gesicht from the line before.
13
to go great as his heart, his blood-aglow one:
WordCompound built from blood and glow Blutdurchglüht joins Blut, 'blood', durch, 'through', and glühen, 'to glow', to mean 'glowing through with blood'. Zwingen with zu gehn means 'to compel to go'. Gehn is a clipped form of gehen, used for the meter.
14
it bore him into the current as into his castle.
GrammarIn plus accusative marks motion Trug is the simple past of tragen, 'to carry, bear'. After a verb of motion, in takes the accusative, so in den Strom and in sein Schloß mean 'into the current' and 'into his castle'. Both phrases use the same case.

The particulars

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