# Der Tod des Dichters · The Death of the Poet

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-tod-des-dichters. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/der-tod-des-dichters.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Er lag. Sein aufgestelltes Antlitz war  
He lay. His upturned countenance was
> An elevated word for face: Das Antlitz is a high, literary word for 'face' or 'countenance', more formal than the everyday Gesicht. Aufgestellt, 'propped up, set upright', is the past participle of aufstellen used as an adjective.

**2** bleich und verweigernd in den steilen Kissen,  
pale and refusing among the steep pillows,
> Present participle as adjective: Verweigernd is the present participle of verweigern, 'to refuse, deny', formed by adding -d to the infinitive and used here as an adjective, like an English -ing form. German can form such participles freely but uses them as predicate adjectives less often than English does.

**3** seitdem die Welt und dieses von ihr Wissen,  
ever since the world and this knowing-of-it,
> A conjunction that delays the verb: Seitdem, 'ever since, since then', is here a subordinating conjunction, so it sends the finite verb to the very end of its clause. That verb, zurückfiel, does not arrive until two lines later.

**4** von seinen Sinnen abgerissen,  
torn loose from his senses,
> Past participle of a separable verb: Abgerissen is the past participle of the separable verb abreißen, 'to tear off, tear away', built from ab- plus reißen, 'to tear'. With von seinen Sinnen, 'from his senses', it describes something being torn away from perception. The dative seinen Sinnen is governed by von.

**5** zurückfiel an das teilnahmslose Jahr.  
fell back into the indifferent year.
> Without taking part: Teilnahmslos means 'apathetic, indifferent, unmoved', literally 'without taking part'. It is built from Teilnahme, 'participation, also sympathy', plus the privative suffix -los, '-less'.


**6** Die, so ihn leben sahen, wußten nicht,  
Those who saw him living did not know
> So as an old relative pronoun: Die, so ihn leben sahen means 'those who saw him live'. Here so is an older, poetic relative pronoun standing for welche or die, 'who'. Sahen, 'saw', plus the bare infinitive leben forms an accusative and infinitive construction, 'saw him live', just as in English.

**7** wie sehr er eines war mit allem diesen,  
how wholly he was one with all of this,
> To be one with: Er war eines mit allem diesen means 'he was one with all of this'. Eines is the neuter number 'one' used as a predicate, naming a single, unified state, and mit governs the dative allem diesen.

**8** denn dieses: diese Tiefen, diese Wiesen  
for this: these depths, these meadows

**9** und diese Wasser waren sein Gesicht.  
and these waters were his face.
> The plain word for face: Das Gesicht is the ordinary word for 'face', plainer than the lofty Antlitz used earlier in the poem. Gesicht can also mean 'vision' in older German.


**10** O sein Gesicht war diese ganze Weite,  
O his face was this whole expanse,
> Vastness, an open expanse: Die Weite is the noun formed from the adjective weit, 'wide, far': 'expanse, breadth, open distance'. Diese ganze Weite means 'this whole expanse'.

**11** die jetzt noch zu ihm will und um ihn wirbt;  
which even now wants to reach him and woos him;
> Um jemanden werben, to court: Um jemanden werben means 'to court someone, to woo, to seek to win them over'. Zu ihm will, 'wants to go to him', uses will as the full verb wollen, 'to want', not as an auxiliary, with zu ihm giving the destination.

**12** und seine Maske, die nun bang verstirbt,  
and his mask, which now fearfully dies away,
> A formal verb for dying: Versterben is a formal, elevated verb for dying, closer to 'to pass away, to expire' than the plain sterben. The prefix ver- adds a sense of fading or completing the act. Bang, 'anxious, fearful', is an adverb here, 'fearfully'.

**13** ist zart und offen wie die Innenseite  
is tender and open like the inner side

**14** von einer Frucht, die an der Luft verdirbt.  
of a fruit that spoils in the open air.
> A strong verb with vowel change: Verdirbt is the third person singular of verderben, 'to spoil, go bad, perish'. It is a strong verb whose stem vowel shifts from e to i in the present singular: ich verderbe, but er verdirbt, the same pattern as geben and gibt.

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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.