German · New Poems: The Other Part

Die Brandstätte

The Site of the Fire

16 lines · 15 notes

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1
Shunned by the early-autumn morning, which
Gemiedenshunnedmeiden · verb, past participledepends on Neues
vonbyvon · prepositiondepends on Gemieden
demtheder · determiner, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Frühherbstmorgen
Frühherbstmorgenearly-autumn morningFrühherbstmorgen · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on von
derwhichder · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of war
GrammarPast participle of meiden gemieden is the past participle of the strong verb meiden, 'to avoid, to shun', used here as an adjective. The line opens with this participle, describing the burnt site. The strong verb pattern is meiden, mied, gemieden.
2
was mistrustful, lay behind the scorched
WordMistrustful, suspicious mißtrauisch means 'mistrustful, suspicious', from das Mißtrauen, 'mistrust' (miß- plus trauen, 'to trust'). It is printed here with ß in the old spelling; modern orthography writes misstrauisch.
3
house-lindens that hemmed the heath-house close,
WordTwo German compounds Hauslinden are linden trees standing by the house; Heidehaus is the house on the heath, from die Heide, 'heath, moor'. German builds such nouns by joining stems. beengten, from beengen, 'to cramp, hem in', is the plural past tense.
4
a new thing, an empty thing. One place more,
GrammarAdjectives used as neuter nouns ein Neues, Leeres turns the adjectives neu and leer into neuter nouns: 'a new thing, an empty thing'. German freely nominalizes adjectives this way, capitalizing them and giving them neuter endings after ein.
5
on which children, from God knows where,
GrammarRelative pronoun in the dative welcher is a relative pronoun referring back to Stelle, 'place' (feminine), at the end of the previous stanza. After auf denoting location it takes the dative: auf welcher, 'on which'. von Gott weiß woher is an idiom, 'from God-knows-where'.
6
shouted to one another and snatched at scraps.
GrammarSeparable verb zuschreien zuschreien, 'to shout at, toward someone', is separable, and appears here in the past tense with einander, 'one another': einander zuschrien means 'shouted to one another'. nach etwas haschen means 'to snatch or grab at something'; Fetzen are 'scraps, shreds'.
7
Yet all of them fell silent whenever he,
GrammarA conjunction meaning whenever sooft is a subordinating conjunction meaning 'whenever, every time that'. It sends the verb of its clause to the end, arriving several lines later. wurden stille means 'grew silent', using the older inflected form stille for still.
8
the son of this place, from hot, half-ashen
WordA Rilke coinage halbverascht joins halb, 'half', with verascht, a participle built from Asche, 'ash': 'half turned to ash'. der Sohn von hier means 'the son of this place'. heißen here is the adjective heiß, 'hot', declined dative plural, not the verb heißen, 'to be called'.
9
beams, dragged kettles and warped troughs
WordGebälk and verbogne das Gebälk is the collective noun for a building's timber framing; the Ge- prefix gathers many Balken, 'beams', into one mass. Here it is dative plural after aus. verbogne is a contracted spelling of verbogene, the participle of verbiegen, 'to bend out of shape'.
10
with a long forked branch, —
WordGabelast and the verb zog der Gabelast is a forked branch, from Gabel, 'fork', and Ast, 'branch', in the dative Gabelaste here. zog is the past tense of ziehen, 'to pull, drag'; it is the main verb of the sooft-clause begun several lines earlier, arriving only now.
11
then, with a look as if he were lying,
Grammarals ob with subjunctive als ob introduces an unreal comparison, 'as though', and takes the subjunctive. löge is Konjunktiv II of lügen, 'to lie, tell an untruth': the phrase means 'though he were lying'. um ... anzusehn, in the next line, is the um ... zu construction, 'in order to look at'.
12
to look at the others, whom he moved
Grammarbewegen meaning 'to induce' bewog is the past tense of bewegen in its strong sense, 'to move someone to do something, to induce' (conjugated bewegen, bewog, bewogen; the everyday sense 'to move physically' is weak, bewegte). die er bewog means 'whom he induced', a relative clause running into the next stanza.
13
to believe in what once stood on this spot.
14
For since it was no more, it seemed to him so
Grammarseit sends its verb to the end denn here is the coordinating 'for, because' and does not invert the word order. seit, 'since', is the conjunction sending its verb to the end: seit es nicht mehr war means 'since it no longer existed'. war alone can mean 'existed'.
15
strange: more fantastical than Pharaoh.
GrammarComparative with als phantastischer als is the comparative of phantastisch, 'fantastical', plus als, 'than': 'more fantastical than'. The older spelling keeps the ph-; modern German writes fantastisch.
16
And he was changed, as though from a far country.
WordDifferent, changed anders means 'different, other, changed'. wie aus fernem Land means 'as though from a far country', with fernem taking the dative ending -em after aus, agreeing with neuter Land.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
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