German · New Poems: The Other Part

Die Greisin

The Old Woman

17 lines · 17 notes

Tap a line to open its words. The mark beside it plays it.

1
White-haired friends in the midst of the now
WeißeWhite-hairedweiß · adjective, nominative, feminine, pluraldepends on Freundinnen
FreundinnenfriendsFreundin · noun, nominative, feminine, pluralsubject of lachen
mittenin the midstmitten · adverbdepends on im
imof thein · prepositiondepends on Freundinnen
HeutenowHeute · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on im
WordAdjective implies white hair weiss means 'white'; used of people it implies white-haired, aged. Weisse Freundinnen is 'white-haired women friends'; die Freundin is the feminine of der Freund, and Freundinnen is its plural.
2
laugh and listen and plan for tomorrow,
WordVerb for active listening horchen means 'to listen attentively, to hark, to eavesdrop', an active straining of the ear, unlike hören, 'to hear'. The three present-tense verbs lachen, horchen, planen pile up in sequence.
3
off to one side, composed folk weigh
WordVerb for weighing a matter erwägen means 'to weigh up, ponder, consider carefully'. abseits, 'off to the side, apart', sets these gelassene Leute, 'calm, composed people', apart from the others in the line before.
4
slowly their particular cares,
GrammarObject placed a line from its verb The object ihre besonderen Sorgen, 'their particular cares', belongs to erwägen in the line above; German allows the subject gelassene Leute and its verb to stand a full line from the object. besonder- means 'particular, special'.
5
the why and the when and the how,
GrammarQuestion words made into nouns German turns the question words warum, 'why', wann, 'when', and wie, 'how', into neuter nouns by placing das before them: das Warum means 'the why of it'. Capitalized and articled, they name abstract questions rather than ask them.
6
and one hears her say: I believe–;
GrammarVerb of perception takes a bare infinitive man is the impersonal 'one, people'; man hört sie sagen means 'one hears her say'. A verb of perception like hören takes a bare infinitive, sagen, 'to say', rather than a zu-clause.
7
but within her lace bonnet
WordCompound noun for a lace cap Spitzenhaube compounds die Spitze, 'lace', and die Haube, 'bonnet, cap, coif', the close lace cap traditionally worn by older women. in ihrer Spitzenhaube means 'within her lace bonnet'.
8
she is certain, as if she knew,
GrammarSubjunctive after als drops ob wüßte is Konjunktiv II, past subjunctive, of wissen, 'to know'. After als, 'as though', German drops ob and brings the verb forward: als wüßte sie, 'as though she knew'.
9
that they are mistaken, these and all.
GrammarReflexive verb for being wrong sich irren means 'to be mistaken, to err' and is reflexive: sie irren sich, 'they are wrong'. daß, older spelling of dass, opens the clause naming what she silently believes, so its verb irren stands at the end.
10
And the chin, in its falling,
WordCoined noun for a falling motion Niederfalle is a poetic noun built from nieder, 'down', and fallen, 'to fall'. im Niederfalle means 'in the act of falling, sinking down', describing the chin gradually dropping.
11
leans against the white coral,
GrammarSeparable reflexive verb with accusative sich lehnen an means 'to lean against'; the separable prefix an and the reflexive sich belong together, and an takes the accusative, die weisse Koralle, because it expresses motion toward a resting point.
12
which tunes the shawl to the brow.
WordVerb borrowed from tuning stimmen means 'to tune', as one tunes an instrument, and so 'to bring into accord, harmonize'. die den Schal zur Stirne stimmt means 'which tunes the shawl to the brow'; die is the relative pronoun subject.
13
Once, though, amid a burst of laughter,
WordCollective noun from a repeated action Gelache, akin to das Gelächter, is a collective noun for 'laughing, a spell of laughter'. The prefix Ge- gathers a repeated or scattered action into one mass, as in Gerede, 'chatter'.
14
she fetches from leaping lids two waking
GrammarVerb-second order after a fronted phrase Because the line opens on the adverbial Einmal aber, the finite verb holt, 'fetches, draws out', comes second and the subject sie follows it, standard German verb-second word order.
15
glances and shows this hard thing,
WordPlural noun for glances der Blick is 'a look, glance, gaze'; the plural Blicke completes zwei wache Blicke, 'two waking glances', begun in the line before. die Sache means 'thing, matter'.
16
the way one, from a secret compartment,
WordNoun for a compartment das Fach means a 'compartment, drawer, pigeonhole'; aus einem geheimen Fache is 'from a secret compartment', the -e an older dative ending. wie man opens the simile that closes the sentence.
17
takes out beautiful inherited stones.
WordPast participle for inherited things ererbt is the past participle of ererben, 'to inherit, come into by inheritance', used here as an adjective: ererbte Steine means 'inherited stones', heirloom gems passed down.

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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