German · New Poems: The Other Part

Der Tod der Geliebten

The Death of the Beloved

14 lines · 18 notes

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1
He knew of death only what everyone knows:
Erheer · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on wußte
wußteknewwissen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
nuronlynur · adverbdepends on wußte
vomofvon · prepositiondepends on wußte
ToddeathTod · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on vom
waswhatwas · pronoun, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on wissen
alleeveryonealle · pronoun, nominative, pluraldepends on wissen
wissenknowswissen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
GrammarPreterite of wissen Wußte is the preterite of wissen, 'to know a fact', an irregular verb: present er weiß, past er wußte. The ß follows the pre-1996 spelling; modern German writes wusste, with ss, because the vowel u is short here.
2
that it takes us and shoves us into the mute.
GrammarVerbs sent to clause end Daß, the older spelling of dass, 'that', is a subordinating conjunction, so its finite verbs go to the end of the clause: nimmt and stößt. The clause spells out the content of the line before it.
WordThe mute, the silent realm Stumm means 'mute, dumb, silent'; as a neuter adjectival noun, das Stumme means 'the mute realm, the silence'. In das Stumme stößt, with in plus accusative for motion into a place, means 'shoves into the muteness'. Stoßen means 'to push, thrust, shove'.
3
But when she, not torn away from him,
GrammarWhen, for one past event Als means 'when' for a single completed event in the past, unlike wenn for repeated or present 'when'. The clause's verb, hinüberglitt, is held back until the next stanza. Aber, 'but', is placed second rather than first, a common word order in German.
WordTo tear away Fortgerissen is the past participle of fortreißen, 'to tear or snatch away', made from the separable prefix fort-, 'away', and reißen, 'to tear'. Nicht von ihm fortgerissen means 'not torn away from him', with von governing the dative ihm.
4
no, gently loosed out of his eyes,
WordPast participle of auslösen Ausgelöst is the past participle of auslösen, a separable verb from aus, 'out', and lösen, 'to loosen, to release'. Here it means she was loosed out of his eyes. Leis is a shortened form of leise, 'softly'.
5
glided over to unknown shades,
GrammarPreterite of a separable verb Hinüberglitt is the preterite of hinübergleiten, 'to glide across', from the separable prefix hinüber-, 'over to the other side', and the strong verb gleiten, 'to glide', past form glitt. It is the main verb of the als-clause begun two lines earlier.
6
and when he felt that over there she now
WordAdverb for the far side Drüben means 'over there, on the other side'. It belongs to the daß-clause whose subject is sie, the shades. That clause's finite verb, hatten, is delayed to the end of the following two lines, as German puts a subordinate clause's verb last.
7
had her girlish smile, like a moon,
WordCompound noun for a smile Mädchenlächeln joins Mädchen, 'girl', and Lächeln, 'smile', to mean 'girlish smile'. Wie einen Mond, 'like a moon', is accusative because wie takes the case of the noun it compares. The subject of hatten, 'had', is the dead from the line above.
8
and her way of doing good:
WordA zu-infinitive after Weise Wohltun means 'to do good, to be beneficial'. Wohlzutun is its zu-infinitive, with zu inserted between the prefix wohl- and the stem tun. It depends on Weise, 'way, manner': ihre Weise wohlzutun means 'her way of doing good'.
9
then the dead grew so familiar to him,
GrammarVerb second after fronted da Da, 'then', is fronted at the start of the clause, so the finite verb wurden takes second position and the subject die Toten follows. Bekannt werden means 'to become familiar, known', and the person it becomes familiar to stands in the dative, ihm, 'to him'.
10
as if through her he were, with every one,
GrammarKonjunktiv II after als Als wäre means 'as though he were'. Wäre is the past subjunctive, Konjunktiv II, of sein, 'to be', and after als in this sense the verb comes directly after it, before the subject er. Mit einem jeden means 'with each one', in the dative.
11
quite closely related; he let the others talk
WordAdjective meaning related Verwandt means 'related, akin'; der Verwandte is 'a relative'. Ganz nah verwandt means 'quite closely related' and completes the als wäre clause begun two lines earlier. The semicolon then starts a new clause about the living.
GrammarLassen with a bare infinitive Lassen, 'to let, to allow', takes a bare infinitive: er ließ die andern reden means 'he let the others talk'. Ließ is the preterite of lassen. Die andern, 'the others', is accusative, the people he permits to act.
12
and did not believe them, and called that land
GrammarNennen with two accusatives Nannte is the preterite of nennen, 'to name, to call something by a name'. Etwas X nennen takes two accusative objects, the thing and the name: jenes Land, 'that land', is the thing, and the next line supplies the name. Jener means 'that, yonder'.
13
the well-situated, the ever-sweet—.
WordCompound adjective used as noun Gutgelegen combines gut, 'good', and gelegen, the participle of liegen, 'to lie, to be situated', so 'well-situated'. Das gutgelegene and das immersüße in this line both stand as nouns, taking the neuter article das, since they name jenes Land directly.
WordA coined compound adjective Immersüß combines immer, 'always, ever', and süß, 'sweet', to form 'ever-sweet'. Like gutgelegene beside it, it is used as a noun with the neuter article das, and stands as one of two names given to jenes Land.
14
And he felt it out, all over, for her feet.
GrammarSeparable verb split across the line Abtasten means 'to feel over, to probe a surface all across'. Its separable prefix ab- splits off and moves to the end of the clause: tastete es ab means 'felt it over'. Es is accusative, standing for jenes Land, and für ihre Füße, 'for her feet', takes für plus the accusative.

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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