# Der letzte Graf von Brederode entzieht sich türkischer Gefangenschaft · The Last Count of Brederode Escapes Turkish Captivity

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-letzte-graf-von-brederode-entzieht-sich-tuerkisc. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-letzte-graf-von-brederode-entzieht-sich-tuerkisc.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Sie folgten furchtbar; ihren bunten Tod  
They pursued terribly; their gaudy death
> Bunt 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** von ferne nach ihm werfend, während er  
hurling it at him from afar, while he
> Present 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** verloren floh, nichts weiter als: bedroht.  
fled, lost, nothing more than: threatened.
> Past 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** Die Ferne seiner Väter schien nicht mehr  
The distance of his fathers seemed no longer
> Genitive 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** für ihn zu gelten; denn um so zu fliehn,  
to hold for him; for to flee like this,
> Purpose 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** genügt ein Tier vor Jägern. Bis der Fluß  
an animal before hunters suffices. Until the river
> Genügen 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** aufrauschte nah und blitzend. Ein Entschluß  
rushed up near and flashing. A resolve
> Separable 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** hob ihn samt seiner Not und machte ihn  
lifted him together with his distress and made him
> Samt 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** wieder zum Knaben fürstlichen Geblütes.  
once more a boy of princely blood.
> Genitive 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** Ein Lächeln adeliger Frauen goß  
A smile of noble women poured
> Gießen 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** noch einmal Süßigkeit in sein verfrühtes  
once more sweetness into his premature,
> Verfrüht 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** vollendetes Gesicht. Er zwang sein Roß,  
perfected face. He forced his steed,
> Strong 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** groß wie sein Herz zu gehn, sein blutdurchglühte:  
to go great as his heart, his blood-aglow one:
> Compound 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** es trug ihn in den Strom wie in sein Schloß.  
it bore him into the current as into his castle.
> In 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.

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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.