German · New Poems

Der Stifter

The Donor

15 lines · 16 notes

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1
That was the commission given to the painters' guild.
Dasthatder · pronoun, nominative, neuter, singularsubject of war
warwassein · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Auftrag
AuftragcommissionAuftrag · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on war
antoan · prepositiondepends on Auftrag
dietheder · determiner, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on Malergilde
Malergildepainters' guildMalergilde · noun, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on an
WordCommission, assignment der Auftrag means 'the commission, the assignment', from auftragen, 'to entrust a task'. der Auftrag an die Malergilde means 'the commission to the painters' guild', with an plus the accusative expressing 'to'.
2
Perhaps it was that the Savior never appeared to him;
GrammarElliptical vielleicht daß Vielleicht daß … is a shortened way of saying 'perhaps it was that …'. der Heiland means 'the Savior'; erscheinen means 'to appear'; ihm is the dative of the one appeared to. daß is the old spelling of dass.
WordAn old devout word for Christ der Heiland means 'the Savior, the Redeemer', an old, devout German name for Christ, built on heilen, 'to heal, make whole'. It belongs to the religious vocabulary of the medieval donor panel the poem describes.
3
perhaps no holy bishop, gently, even stepped
GrammarA separable verb plus an adverb The verb is treten an, 'to step up to', which is separable: trat takes second position while its prefix an waits for the next line, an seine Seite. milde here is adverbial, 'gently'. kein heiliger Bischof, 'no holy bishop', negates the whole clause.
4
up to his side, as in this very picture,
GrammarAn old poetic dative ending in diesem Bilde is dative singular after in, marking a fixed location. das Bild, 'picture', takes the older dative ending -e, Bilde, common in elevated nineteenth-century verse and kept here for the meter.
5
and laid his hand softly upon him.
Grammarlegen with auf and the accusative legen, 'to lay, place', governs auf with the accusative ihn, 'onto him', because this is motion toward a place, not rest in it. leise means 'softly'. seine Hand auf ihn legen is 'to lay his hand on him'.
6
Perhaps this was the whole of it: to kneel like this
Grammarzu plus the infinitive knien so zu knien means 'to kneel in just this way'. The zu-infinitive names the act as a thing in itself, and is picked up again as the bare zu knien two lines later. knien, 'to kneel', is the plain infinitive; so, 'thus', points at the posture in the painting.
7
(just as it is everything we have come to know):
Worderfahren, to learn or to undergo erfuhren is the past tense of erfahren, which means both 'to find out, to learn' and 'to experience, to undergo'. alles … was wir erfuhren means 'everything we have learned or lived through'.
8
to kneel: so that one's own contours,
GrammarThe impersonal pronoun man man is the impersonal pronoun, 'one, you in general', not the noun Mann. After daß, 'so that', the finite verb goes to the end of the clause, here hält, held off until a later line. die eigenen Konturen means 'one's own contours'.
9
the ones that want to stray outward, all held taut,
WordA coined compound participle This is a Rilke coinage: auswärts, 'outward', fused with wollend, the present participle of wollen, 'wanting', then declined as an adjective. die auswärtswollenden Konturen means 'the outward-wanting contours'. ganz angespannt means 'wholly tensed, drawn taut'.
10
one holds within the heart, like horses in the hand.
GrammarThe clause's verb lands at the end hält, from halten, 'to hold', is the finite verb of the daß man … clause begun earlier, and it lands at the very end as subordinate word order requires. im Herzen, 'in the heart', and wie Pferde in der Hand both depend on it.
11
So that, were something monstrous to come to pass,
WordThe monstrous, made a noun ungeheuer means 'monstrous, enormous, uncanny'; das Ungeheuere is its substantivized neuter form, 'the monstrous thing'. Rilke leaves it unnamed. geschähe, from geschehen, 'to happen', is subjunctive for an unreal supposition, paired with wenn, 'if'.
12
a thing not promised and never guaranteed,
WordA coined negative compound This coinage fuses nie, 'never', to verbrieft, the past participle of verbriefen, 'to certify in writing, guarantee by charter', from der Brief, 'letter, document'. nieverbrieft means 'never warranted by any document', paired with versprochen, 'promised'.
13
we might hope that it would not catch sight of us
GrammarTwo verbs in the unreal mood könnten and sähe are both Subjunctive II: wir hoffen könnten means 'we could hope', and daß es uns nicht sähe means 'that it might not see us'. German uses this mood to keep the whole scene hypothetical. sähe is from sehen, 'to see'.
14
and would come nearer, right into our nearness,
WordAn adverb and noun that sound alike näher is the comparative of nah, 'near'; die Nähe is the noun 'nearness'. näher käme … ganz in unsre Nähe plays the two forms against each other, 'would come nearer, right into our nearness'. käme is subjunctive of kommen; unsre is the contracted unsere.
15
occupied with itself and sunk deep within itself.
WordAbsorbed within oneself sich vertiefen in etwas means 'to become absorbed in something'; the participle vertieft means 'engrossed, sunk deep'. With the reflexive in sich it means 'absorbed in itself', paired here with mit sich beschäftigt, 'occupied with itself'.

The particulars

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