German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Pavillon

The Pavilion

22 lines · 22 notes

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1
But even still, through the folding doors
Aberbutaber · conjunctiondepends on durch
selbstevenselbst · adverbdepends on durch
nochstillnoch · adverbdepends on durch
durchthroughdurch · prepositionhead of the phrase
dietheder · determiner, accusative, feminine, pluraldepends on Flügeltüren
Flügeltürenfolding doorsFlügeltür · noun, accusative, feminine, pluraldepends on durch
WordDouble doors, accusative object A Flügeltür is a double or 'wing' door, two leaves, Flügel meaning 'wings', that swing open from the center. The plural Flügeltüren is the object of durch, 'through', which always takes the accusative.
2
with their green, rain-clouded glass,
WordA coined compound adjective Rilke fuses Regen, 'rain', and trüb, 'dim, murky, clouded', into a single adjective for glass made cloudy by rain. German lets a poet weld two words into one fresh image; trüb carries both an optical and an emotional sense.
3
there is a mirroring of smiling airs
GrammarInfinitive turned into a noun Spiegeln, 'to mirror, be reflected', is used here as a neuter noun, ein Spiegeln, 'a mirroring'. Any German infinitive can become a noun this way, capitalized and neuter, naming the activity rather than a finished thing.
4
and a glow of that old happiness to be felt,
GrammarThat, pointing to something distant jener, jene, jenes is the demonstrative 'that one over there', pointing to something remote in space or time, unlike dieser, 'this one here'. The dative jenem Glück is governed by von.
5
which there, where they no longer lead,
GrammarTo where, motion toward German splits English 'where' by direction: wo is location, 'where, at what place', wohin is motion toward, 'to where', and woher is motion from, 'from where'. wohin sie nicht mehr führen means 'to where they no longer lead'.
6
once hid itself, transfigured, and forgot.
WordTo transfigure, a shared prefix verklären means to transfigure, to bathe in a softening, glorifying light, the same verb used for the religious Transfiguration. Strung with verbarg, 'hid', and vergaß, 'forgot', all three share the prefix ver-.
7
But even still, in the garlands of stone
WordStone garlands, a compound noun Stein, 'stone', plus Girlande, 'garland', names the carved swags of leaves and flowers festooned across a facade. The dative plural in den Steingirlanden follows in used for a fixed location, hence the dative.
8
above the door no longer touched,
GrammarParticiple used as adjective berührt, 'touched', is the past participle of berühren, used here as an attributive adjective before Tür and inflected to agree with it. nicht mehr, 'no longer', sits inside the phrase: 'the no-longer-touched door'.
9
there is a leaning toward secrecy present
WordInclination, plus zu and dative der Hang is a leaning, a propensity, literally a 'slope', from hängen, 'to hang'. It takes zu plus the dative: ein Hang zur Heimlichkeit, 'an inclination toward secrecy'. Heimlichkeit, from heim, 'home', means concealment.
10
and a quiet fellow-feeling for it,
WordCompassion, a compound noun Mitgefühl compounds mit, 'with', and Gefühl, 'feeling': 'feeling-with', sympathy or compassion. dafür is a pronominal adverb, da plus für, 'for it', standing in for the secrecy named in the line before.
11
and sometimes they shudder as if mirrored,
WordTo shiver, shudder schauern means to shiver or shudder, a tremor of cold, dread, or awe, related to der Schauer, 'a shiver'. The subject sie reaches back to die Steingirlanden, the stone garlands.
12
when a wind ran shadowy across them;
GrammarInseparable verb, to run across überlief is the simple past of überlaufen in its inseparable, transitive sense, 'to run over or across' a surface. Because über- is unstressed and inseparable here, no ge- appears and the object sie stands in the accusative.
13
the coat of arms, too, as on a letter
WordCoat of arms, a simile opens das Wappen is a coat of arms, the heraldic crest of a noble family, here carved onto the pavilion. wie auf einem Brief, 'as on a letter', opens a simile that runs into the next line.
14
far too happily, hastily sealed,
WordHasty, rushed participle überstürzt means 'headlong, rushed, precipitate', done too quickly, without care. Paired with gesiegelt, 'sealed', from siegeln, it pictures a coat of arms stamped in haste.
15
speaks still. How little has been driven off:
GrammarLong-delayed verb across stanzas The main verb redet, 'speaks', is held back across the stanza break, its subject das Wappen three lines earlier. verscheuchte, 'drove off, shooed away', is the past of verscheuchen; man, 'one', keeps the agent vague.
16
everything still knows, still weeps, still aches.
WordWeh tun, the idiom to hurt weh tun is the idiom 'to hurt, to ache', weh meaning 'sore' and tun meaning 'to do'; it separates, so tut ... weh frames the inserted noch, 'still'. Three short verbs in a row give the place a living memory.
17
And while going off down the tear-damp,
GrammarVerb turned into a noun Fortgehn, from the separable verb fortgehen, 'to go away', is turned into a noun here. The fixed phrase im ...-en expresses 'in the course of, while doing': im Fortgehn means 'while leaving'. tränenfeucht, 'tear-damp', modifies Allee next.
18
secluded avenue
WordTree-lined avenue An Allee is a tree-lined avenue or walk, the formal approach of a park or estate. abgelegen means remote, out-of-the-way, secluded, describing the grand avenue now forgotten and overgrown.
19
one feels, long still, upon the edge of the roof
GrammarVerb-second after fronted phrase The sentence began with Und im Fortgehn two lines back; because that adverbial phrase is fronted, the finite verb fühlt must come second, so the subject man follows it. des Dachs is genitive, 'the edge of the roof'.
20
those urns standing, cold, split open,
GrammarPerception verb, bare infinitive fühlt man ... jene Urnen stehen means 'one feels those urns standing'. Verbs of perception like fühlen, sehen, and hören take a bare infinitive with no zu, here jene Urnen plus the infinitive stehen. zerspalten means 'split open'.
21
yet resolved to hold together still
GrammarZu splits a separable verb The verb is zusammenhalten, 'to hold together'; with zu the particle splits to embed it, zusammen-zu-halten, contracted by Rilke to zusammzuhalten for the meter. entschlossen, 'resolved', governs this zu-infinitive.
22
around the ash of old laments.
WordAn archaic genitive plural Achs is the genitive of das Ach, the nominalized interjection 'ach!', meaning a lament or sigh. um die Asche alter Achs means 'around the ash of old laments'; this genitive form is archaic but attested.

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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