{"work":{"slug":"rilke","title":{"source":"Neue Gedichte","translated":"New Poems"},"author":"Rainer Maria Rilke","language":"German","languageCode":"de","url":"https://1732studios.com/books/rilke"},"unit":{"kind":"poem","number":null,"id":"die-brandstaette","title":{"source":"Die Brandstätte","translated":"The Site of the Fire"},"section":"New Poems: The Other Part","summary":null,"url":"https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-brandstaette","lines":16},"previous":"https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/abendmahl","next":"https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-gruppe","license":"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.","audioBase":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/","lines":[{"number":1,"label":"1","id":"die-brandstaette-s1-l1","source":"Gemieden von dem Frühherbstmorgen, der","translation":"Shunned by the early-autumn morning, which","stanza":1,"audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s1-l1.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"gemieden","title":"Past participle of meiden","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"Gemieden","lemma":"meiden","morphology":"verb, past participle","role":"depends on Neues","gloss":"shunned"},{"surface":"von","lemma":"von","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on Gemieden","gloss":"by"},{"surface":"dem","lemma":"der","morphology":"determiner, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on Frühherbstmorgen","gloss":"the"},{"surface":"Frühherbstmorgen","lemma":"Frühherbstmorgen","morphology":"noun, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on von","gloss":"early-autumn morning"},{"surface":"der","lemma":"der","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"subject of war","gloss":"which"}]},{"number":2,"label":"2","id":"die-brandstaette-s1-l2","source":"mißtrauisch war, lag hinter den versengten","translation":"was mistrustful, lay behind the scorched","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s1-l2.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"mißtrauisch","title":"Mistrustful, suspicious","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"mißtrauisch","lemma":"mißtrauisch","morphology":"adjective","role":"depends on war","gloss":"mistrustful"},{"surface":"war","lemma":"sein","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on Frühherbstmorgen","gloss":"was"},{"surface":"lag","lemma":"liegen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"main verb of the sentence","gloss":"lay"},{"surface":"hinter","lemma":"hinter","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on lag","gloss":"behind"},{"surface":"den","lemma":"der","morphology":"determiner, dative, plural","role":"depends on versengten","gloss":"the"},{"surface":"versengten","lemma":"versengt","morphology":"adjective, dative, plural","role":"depends on Hauslinden","gloss":"scorched"}]},{"number":3,"label":"3","id":"die-brandstaette-s1-l3","source":"Hauslinden, die das Heidehaus beengten,","translation":"house-lindens that hemmed the heath-house close,","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s1-l3.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"Hauslinden","title":"Two German compounds","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"Hauslinden","lemma":"Hauslinde","morphology":"noun, dative, feminine, plural","role":"depends on hinter","gloss":"house-lindens"},{"surface":"die","lemma":"der","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, plural","role":"depends on beengten","gloss":"that"},{"surface":"das","lemma":"der","morphology":"determiner, accusative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on Heidehaus","gloss":"the"},{"surface":"Heidehaus","lemma":"Heidehaus","morphology":"noun, accusative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on beengten","gloss":"heath-house"},{"surface":"beengten","lemma":"beengen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, plural","role":"depends on Hauslinden","gloss":"hemmed in"}]},{"number":4,"label":"4","id":"die-brandstaette-s1-l4","source":"ein Neues, Leeres. Eine Stelle mehr,","translation":"a new thing, an empty thing. One place more,","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s1-l4.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"ein Neues, Leeres","title":"Adjectives used as neuter nouns","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"ein","lemma":"ein","morphology":"determiner, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on Neues","gloss":"a"},{"surface":"Neues","lemma":"neu","morphology":"noun, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on lag","gloss":"new thing"},{"surface":"Leeres","lemma":"leer","morphology":"noun, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on Neues","gloss":"empty thing"},{"surface":"Eine","lemma":"ein","morphology":"determiner, nominative, feminine, singular","role":"depends on Stelle","gloss":"one"},{"surface":"Stelle","lemma":"Stelle","morphology":"noun, nominative, feminine, singular","role":"head of the phrase","gloss":"place"},{"surface":"mehr","lemma":"mehr","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on Stelle","gloss":"more"}]},{"number":5,"label":"5","id":"die-brandstaette-s2-l1","source":"auf welcher Kinder, von Gott weiß woher,","translation":"on which children, from God knows where,","stanza":2,"audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s2-l1.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"auf welcher","title":"Relative pronoun in the dative","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"auf","lemma":"auf","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on zuschrien","gloss":"on"},{"surface":"welcher","lemma":"welcher","morphology":"determiner, dative, feminine, singular","role":"depends on auf","gloss":"which"},{"surface":"Kinder","lemma":"Kind","morphology":"noun, nominative, neuter, plural","role":"depends on zuschrien","gloss":"children"},{"surface":"von","lemma":"von","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on woher","gloss":"from"},{"surface":"Gott","lemma":"Gott","morphology":"noun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on weiß","gloss":"God"},{"surface":"weiß","lemma":"wissen","morphology":"verb, present, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on Kinder","gloss":"knows"},{"surface":"woher","lemma":"woher","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on weiß","gloss":"where"}]},{"number":6,"label":"6","id":"die-brandstaette-s2-l2","source":"einander zuschrien und nach Fetzen haschten.","translation":"shouted to one another and snatched at scraps.","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s2-l2.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"zuschrien","title":"Separable verb zuschreien","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"einander","lemma":"einander","morphology":"pronoun, dative, plural, reciprocal","role":"depends on zuschrien","gloss":"to one another"},{"surface":"zuschrien","lemma":"zuschreien","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, plural","role":"main verb of the sentence","gloss":"shouted to"},{"surface":"und","lemma":"und","morphology":"conjunction","role":"depends on zuschrien","gloss":"and"},{"surface":"nach","lemma":"nach","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on haschten","gloss":"at"},{"surface":"Fetzen","lemma":"Fetzen","morphology":"noun, dative, masculine, plural","role":"depends on nach","gloss":"scraps"},{"surface":"haschten","lemma":"haschen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, plural","role":"depends on und","gloss":"snatched"}]},{"number":7,"label":"7","id":"die-brandstaette-s2-l3","source":"Doch alle wurden stille, sooft er,","translation":"Yet all of them fell silent whenever he,","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s2-l3.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"sooft","title":"A conjunction meaning whenever","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"Doch","lemma":"doch","morphology":"conjunction","role":"depends on wurden","gloss":"yet"},{"surface":"alle","lemma":"alle","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, plural","role":"depends on wurden","gloss":"all"},{"surface":"wurden","lemma":"werden","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, plural","role":"main verb of the sentence","gloss":"fell"},{"surface":"stille","lemma":"still","morphology":"adjective","role":"depends on wurden","gloss":"silent"},{"surface":"sooft","lemma":"sooft","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on wurden","gloss":"whenever"},{"surface":"er","lemma":"er","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on sooft","gloss":"he"}]},{"number":8,"label":"8","id":"die-brandstaette-s2-l4","source":"der Sohn von hier, aus heißen, halbveraschten","translation":"the son of this place, from hot, half-ashen","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s2-l4.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"halbveraschten","title":"A Rilke coinage","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"der","lemma":"der","morphology":"determiner, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on Sohn","gloss":"the"},{"surface":"Sohn","lemma":"Sohn","morphology":"noun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on er","gloss":"son"},{"surface":"von","lemma":"von","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on Sohn","gloss":"of"},{"surface":"hier","lemma":"hier","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on von","gloss":"here"},{"surface":"aus","lemma":"aus","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on zog","gloss":"from"},{"surface":"heißen","lemma":"heiß","morphology":"adjective, dative, plural","role":"depends on Gebälken","gloss":"hot","note":"Not the verb heißen (\"to be called\") — here it's the adjective heiß (\"hot\"), declined dative plural to agree with the beams."},{"surface":"halbveraschten","lemma":"halbveraschen","morphology":"adjective, dative, plural","role":"depends on Gebälken","gloss":"half-ashen"}]},{"number":9,"label":"9","id":"die-brandstaette-s3-l1","source":"Gebälken Kessel und verbogne Tröge","translation":"beams, dragged kettles and warped troughs","stanza":3,"audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s3-l1.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"Gebälken","title":"Gebälk and verbogne","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"Gebälken","lemma":"Gebälk","morphology":"noun, dative, neuter, plural","role":"depends on aus","gloss":"beams"},{"surface":"Kessel","lemma":"Kessel","morphology":"noun, accusative, masculine, plural","role":"depends on zog","gloss":"kettles"},{"surface":"und","lemma":"und","morphology":"conjunction","role":"depends on Kessel","gloss":"and"},{"surface":"verbogne","lemma":"verbogen","morphology":"adjective, accusative, plural","role":"depends on Tröge","gloss":"warped"},{"surface":"Tröge","lemma":"Trog","morphology":"noun, accusative, masculine, plural","role":"depends on und","gloss":"troughs"}]},{"number":10,"label":"10","id":"die-brandstaette-s3-l2","source":"mit einem langen Gabelaste zog,–","translation":"with a long forked branch, —","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s3-l2.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"Gabelaste","title":"Gabelast and the verb zog","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"mit","lemma":"mit","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on zog","gloss":"with"},{"surface":"einem","lemma":"ein","morphology":"determiner, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on Gabelaste","gloss":"a"},{"surface":"langen","lemma":"lang","morphology":"adjective, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on Gabelaste","gloss":"long"},{"surface":"Gabelaste","lemma":"Gabelast","morphology":"noun, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on mit","gloss":"forked branch"},{"surface":"zog,–","lemma":"ziehen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on sooft","gloss":"dragged"}]},{"number":11,"label":"11","id":"die-brandstaette-s3-l3","source":"um dann mit einem Blick, als ob er löge,","translation":"then, with a look as if he were lying,","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s3-l3.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"als ob er löge","title":"als ob with subjunctive","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"um","lemma":"um","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on anzusehn","gloss":"in order"},{"surface":"dann","lemma":"dann","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on anzusehn","gloss":"then"},{"surface":"mit","lemma":"mit","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on anzusehn","gloss":"with"},{"surface":"einem","lemma":"ein","morphology":"determiner, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on Blick","gloss":"a"},{"surface":"Blick","lemma":"Blick","morphology":"noun, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on mit","gloss":"look"},{"surface":"als","lemma":"als","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on löge","gloss":"as"},{"surface":"ob","lemma":"ob","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on löge","gloss":"if"},{"surface":"er","lemma":"er","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on löge","gloss":"he"},{"surface":"löge","lemma":"lügen","morphology":"verb, past, subjunctive, third-person, singular","role":"depends on ob","gloss":"were lying"}]},{"number":12,"label":"12","id":"die-brandstaette-s3-l4","source":"die andern anzusehn, die er bewog","translation":"to look at the others, whom he moved","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s3-l4.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"bewog","title":"bewegen meaning 'to induce'","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"die","lemma":"der","morphology":"determiner, accusative, plural","role":"depends on andern","gloss":"the"},{"surface":"andern","lemma":"andere","morphology":"pronoun, accusative, plural","role":"depends on anzusehn","gloss":"others"},{"surface":"anzusehn","lemma":"ansehen","morphology":"verb, infinitive","role":"depends on um","gloss":"look at"},{"surface":"die","lemma":"der","morphology":"pronoun, accusative, plural","role":"depends on bewog","gloss":"whom"},{"surface":"er","lemma":"er","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on bewog","gloss":"he"},{"surface":"bewog","lemma":"bewegen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on andern","gloss":"moved"}]},{"number":13,"label":"13","id":"die-brandstaette-s4-l1","source":"zu glauben, was an dieser Stelle stand.","translation":"to believe in what once stood on this spot.","stanza":4,"audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s4-l1.m4a","notes":[],"words":[{"surface":"zu","lemma":"zu","morphology":"particle","role":"depends on glauben","gloss":"to"},{"surface":"glauben","lemma":"glauben","morphology":"verb, infinitive","role":"depends on bewog","gloss":"believe"},{"surface":"was","lemma":"was","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on stand","gloss":"what"},{"surface":"an","lemma":"an","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on stand","gloss":"on"},{"surface":"dieser","lemma":"dieser","morphology":"determiner, dative, feminine, singular","role":"depends on Stelle","gloss":"this"},{"surface":"Stelle","lemma":"Stelle","morphology":"noun, dative, feminine, singular","role":"depends on an","gloss":"spot"},{"surface":"stand","lemma":"stehen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on glauben","gloss":"stood"}]},{"number":14,"label":"14","id":"die-brandstaette-s4-l2","source":"Denn seit es nicht mehr war, schien es ihm so","translation":"For since it was no more, it seemed to him so","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s4-l2.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"seit es nicht mehr war","title":"seit sends its verb to the end","body":"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'."}],"words":[{"surface":"Denn","lemma":"denn","morphology":"conjunction","role":"depends on schien","gloss":"for"},{"surface":"seit","lemma":"seit","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on war","gloss":"since"},{"surface":"es","lemma":"es","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on war","gloss":"it"},{"surface":"nicht","lemma":"nicht","morphology":"particle","role":"depends on war","gloss":"not"},{"surface":"mehr","lemma":"mehr","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on nicht","gloss":"more"},{"surface":"war","lemma":"sein","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"depends on seit","gloss":"was"},{"surface":"schien","lemma":"scheinen","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"main verb of the sentence","gloss":"seemed"},{"surface":"es","lemma":"es","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on schien","gloss":"it"},{"surface":"ihm","lemma":"ihm","morphology":"pronoun, dative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on schien","gloss":"to him"},{"surface":"so","lemma":"so","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on schien","gloss":"so"}]},{"number":15,"label":"15","id":"die-brandstaette-s4-l3","source":"seltsam: phantastischer als Pharao.","translation":"strange: more fantastical than Pharaoh.","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s4-l3.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"grammar","term":"phantastischer als","title":"Comparative with als","body":"phantastischer als is the comparative of phantastisch, 'fantastical', plus als, 'than': 'more fantastical than'. The older spelling keeps the ph-; modern German writes fantastisch."}],"words":[{"surface":"seltsam","lemma":"seltsam","morphology":"adjective","role":"depends on schien","gloss":"strange"},{"surface":"phantastischer","lemma":"phantastisch","morphology":"adjective, comparative","role":"depends on seltsam","gloss":"more fantastical"},{"surface":"als","lemma":"als","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on phantastischer","gloss":"than"},{"surface":"Pharao","lemma":"Pharao","morphology":"noun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on als","gloss":"Pharaoh"}]},{"number":16,"label":"16","id":"die-brandstaette-s4-l4","source":"Und er war anders, wie aus fernem Land.","translation":"And he was changed, as though from a far country.","audio":"https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/die-brandstaette-s4-l4.m4a","notes":[{"kind":"vocabulary","term":"anders","title":"Different, changed","body":"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."}],"words":[{"surface":"Und","lemma":"und","morphology":"conjunction","role":"depends on war","gloss":"and"},{"surface":"er","lemma":"er","morphology":"pronoun, nominative, masculine, singular","role":"depends on war","gloss":"he"},{"surface":"war","lemma":"sein","morphology":"verb, past, indicative, third-person, singular","role":"main verb of the sentence","gloss":"was"},{"surface":"anders","lemma":"anders","morphology":"adverb","role":"depends on war","gloss":"different"},{"surface":"wie","lemma":"wie","morphology":"subordinating conjunction","role":"depends on war","gloss":"as though"},{"surface":"aus","lemma":"aus","morphology":"preposition","role":"depends on wie","gloss":"from"},{"surface":"fernem","lemma":"fern","morphology":"adjective, dative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on Land","gloss":"far"},{"surface":"Land","lemma":"Land","morphology":"noun, dative, neuter, singular","role":"depends on aus","gloss":"country"}]}]}