German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Stylit

The Stylite

30 lines · 28 notes

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1
Whole peoples closed together over him,
VölkerpeoplesVolk · noun, nominative, neuter, pluraldepends on schlugen
schlugenclosedzusammenschlagen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
überoverüber · prepositiondepends on schlugen
ihmhimihm · pronoun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on über
zusammentogetherzusammen · adverbdepends on schlugen
GrammarSeparable verb 'zusammenschlagen' Zusammenschlagen, 'to close together, crash shut', splits in a main clause: schlugen, past of schlagen, stays in second position while zusammen moves to the end. Über ihm, 'over him', takes the dative here since nothing moves, only closes above him.
2
the ones he was free to choose and to damn;
WordAn archaic verb with a modal Küren is an elevated, archaic verb for 'to choose, elect'. Durfte is the simple past of dürfen, 'to be allowed to'. Together, küren durfte means 'was permitted to choose', paired here with verdammen, 'to condemn.'
3
and, sensing that he was losing himself,
GrammarPresent participle 'erratend' Erratend is the present participle of erraten, 'to guess, sense, divine', formed by adding -d to the infinitive. It is used adverbially, and the daß-clause that follows sends its verb, verlor, to the end: 'sensing that he was losing himself.'
4
he climbed up out of the people's reek with stiff,
WordStrong past of 'klimmen' Klimmen means 'to clamber, climb with effort', stronger than klettern or steigen. Klomm is its strong simple past tense: 'climbed.' It governs aus dem Volksgeruch, 'out of the people's reek', with aus taking the dative.
WordA compound for the crowd's smell A compound of Volk, 'people, crowd', and Geruch, 'smell, odor': 'the smell of the masses'. It follows aus, which takes the dative here, and Volksgeruch is dative singular, aus dem Volksgeruch, 'out of the people's reek.'
5
with stiff hands, up the shaft of a column,
GrammarAn adverb meaning upward Empor is an adverb meaning 'up, upward, aloft'. It depends on klomm, 'climbed', in the line before, and lands at the end of the clause: 'climbed... up.' The noun in between, Säulenschaft, 'column shaft', is the accusative object of klomm.
6
which still kept rising and lifted nothing more,
GrammarRelative 'der' reaching back Der is a masculine relative pronoun, 'which', referring back to Säulenschaft, 'column shaft', across the stanza break. In the relative clause, the verbs stieg, 'rose', and hob, 'lifted', both move to the end.
7
and he began, alone upon its surface,
8
right from the start, to measure his own weakness
WordA phrase for starting over Ganz von vorne is a fixed phrase meaning 'all over again, right from the start'. Its object, seine eigne Schwäche, 'his own weakness', is accusative, and the verb that governs it, vergleichen, 'to compare, measure', arrives only in the next line.
9
against the Lord's praise;
GrammarGenitive before its noun Des Herren is the genitive of der Herr, 'the Lord', and modifies Lob, 'praise': 'the Lord's praise'. Placing the genitive before its noun, rather than Lob des Herren, is an older, elevated word order.
10
and there was no end to it: he kept comparing;
11
and the other grew ever greater.
GrammarImmer with a comparative Immer placed before a comparative, as in immer größer, means 'ever, more and more': 'ever greater'. Größer is the comparative of groß, 'great, large'. Der andre, 'the other one', is the subject.
12
And the shepherds, the ploughmen, the raftsmen
WordA raftsman among the trades Ein Flößer is a raftsman, one who floats timber downriver lashed into rafts. It is listed alongside Hirten, 'shepherds', and Ackerbauer, 'ploughmen', as one of three kinds of plain working folk, all nominative subjects of sahn, 'saw', in the next line.
13
saw him, small and beside himself,
WordAn idiom for being beside oneself Außer sich is a fixed idiom, 'beside oneself', meaning overwrought or out of one's mind with feeling. Sich is the reflexive pronoun 'himself', dative after außer. The sentence continues into the next stanza, where reden, 'to talk', completes what he was seen doing.
14
forever talking with the whole of heaven,
GrammarPerception verb plus bare infinitive German pairs a verb of perception with a plain infinitive, no zu: sahn ihn reden, 'saw him talk'. Sahn, the poetic form of sahen, 'saw', sits in the stanza before, and its infinitive reden, 'to talk', arrives only here.
15
rained-in at times, at times in light;
WordA participle for being rained in Eingeregnet is the past participle of einregnen, 'to be shut in by rain', used adjectivally: 'rained-in'. It is paired with licht, 'in light, bright', to describe two alternating states.
16
and his howling hurled itself upon each one,
GrammarReflexive 'sich stürzen auf' Sich stürzen auf, with the accusative auf jeden, 'upon each one', means 'to hurl oneself upon, pounce on'. Sich makes Heulen, 'howling', its own subject: 'his howling hurled itself upon each one.'
17
as though he howled it into each man's face.
GrammarSo als with the subjunctive So als introduces an unreal comparison, 'as though', and takes the subjunctive: heulte here is past subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) of heulen, 'to howl', not a plain past tense. 'As though he were howling into his face.'
18
Yet for years he had not seen
GrammarSeit with a past tense Seit Jahren means 'for years'. German usually pairs seit with the present tense for an action still ongoing; here it appears with the past tense sah, 'saw', meaning the not-seeing has lasted for years and still continues.
19
how the crowd's pressing and drift
GrammarFronted genitive 'der Menge' Der Menge is the genitive of die Menge, 'the crowd', placed before its nouns Drängen und Verlauf, 'pressing and course': 'the crowd's pressing and drift'. Wie, 'how', opens the clause, and its verb sich ergänzte falls to the end of the next line.
20
below kept ceaselessly renewing itself,
WordA reflexive verb for replenishing Sich ergänzen means 'to replenish itself, fill back up'. With unaufhörlich, 'ceaselessly', it describes the crowd below constantly renewing its own numbers, in contrast to the man above who no longer watches it.
21
and the bright sheen on the princes gleamed
WordAdjective turned into a noun Das Blanke is the adjective blank, 'bright, gleaming, polished', turned into a neuter noun with das: 'the bright thing, the sheen'. An den Fürsten, 'on the princes', is dative after an, marking where the sheen is seen.
22
nowhere near as high up as he stood.
WordAn idiom of degree Lange nicht so is an idiom of degree meaning 'not nearly so, nowhere near as'. Lange nicht so hoch hinauf means 'nowhere near as high up', comparing the height of the gleam below to the height of the pillar.
23
But when up there, all but damned
WordPast participle qualified by fast Verdammt is the past participle of verdammen, 'to damn, condemn', the same verb used of him in an earlier stanza. Fast, 'all but, nearly', qualifies it: 'all but damned'. Wenn, 'when, whenever', opens a long clause whose main verb comes three lines later.
24
and chafed raw by their resistance,
WordPast participle with the prefix zer Zerschunden is the past participle of zerschinden, 'to flay, chafe raw'. The prefix zer- marks tearing apart or destruction. Von ihrem Widerstand, 'by their resistance', is dative after von, naming the cause.
25
alone, with desperate screaming,
WordCollective noun 'Geschreie' The Ge-...-e frame builds a collective noun for a continuous, ongoing action. From schreien, 'to scream', comes Geschreie, 'incessant screaming'. Mit verzweifeltem Geschreie is dative after mit: 'with desperate screaming.'
26
he shook off the daily demons:
GrammarThe long-delayed main verb Schüttelte, simple past of schütteln, 'to shake', is the main verb of the wenn-clause opened three lines earlier. German can suspend the finite verb across several lines of subordinate detail before it finally lands: 'shook the daily demons.'
27
there fell slowly onto the front row,
GrammarVerb-first main clause After the long wenn-clause, the result clause opens with its verb fielen, 'fell', past of fallen, in first position. The grammatical subject, große Würmer, 'great worms', is held back two more lines before it appears.
28
heavy and clumsy, out of his wounds,
29
great worms, into the open crowns
WordCrown of a head Krone means both a royal 'crown' and, of a person, the 'crown of the head'. Offnen is the poetic short form of offenen, 'open'. Die offnen Kronen, accusative after in, are the bare, upturned heads of the front row.
30
and bred there in the velvet.
GrammarReflexive verb, dative location Sich vermehren means 'to multiply, breed'. Im Samt is dative, from in dem Samt, 'in the velvet', naming where. Vermehrten sich im Samt: 'bred there in the velvet.'

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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