German · New Poems: The Other Part

Die Gruppe

The Group

14 lines · 14 notes

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

1
As if someone were quickly gathering a bouquet:
Alsas ifals · subordinating conjunctiondepends on ordnet
pflücktegatheringpflücken · verb, past, subjunctive, third-person, singulardepends on Als
einersomeoneeiner · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on pflückte
raschquicklyrasch · adverbdepends on pflückte
zuintozu · prepositiondepends on pflückte
einemaein · determiner, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Strauß
StraußbouquetStrauß · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on zu
Grammarals with subjunctive, no ob als here means 'as though', and with the verb moved to the front it drops the ob of als ob. pflückte is subjunctive II of pflücken, 'to pick, to pluck', marking the comparison as imagined. einer is the indefinite pronoun 'someone, one'.
2
chance hastily orders the faces,
WordChance, personified der Zufall means 'chance, accident, coincidence', literally 'that which falls to one'. It is the grammatical subject of the sentence that follows across the stanza: Chance arranges the faces. ordnen means 'to arrange, to put in order'.
3
loosens them apart and presses them tighter again,
GrammarSeparable verb auflockern auflockern, 'to loosen up, make less dense', is separable: the stem lockert takes its place in the clause while the prefix auf is placed after the object sie. dichter is the comparative of dicht, 'dense, packed close'.
4
seizes two far ones, leaves out a near one,
GrammarSeparable verb auslassen auslassen means 'to leave out, to omit'; being separable, läßt stands here and aus falls to the end of the clause. läßt is the pre-1996 spelling of lässt. zwei ferne and ein nahes are nominalized adjectives, 'two distant ones', 'a near one'.
5
swaps this one with that, blows one of them fresh,
WordSome one or other irgendein- means 'some ... or other, any random one'. The -es ending is neuter, agreeing with the understood Gesicht, 'face'. bläst ... frisch, from blasen, 'to blow', means it 'blows fresh' on that face.
6
throws out a dog, like a weed, from the mixture
WordGreenery, weeds das Kraut means 'herb, leafy plant, greenery', and in a bunch of flowers the unwanted filler-green. wie Kraut compares the discarded dog to a weed tossed from das Gemisch, 'the mixture, jumble'. aus ... werfen means 'to throw out of'.
7
and draws what looks up from below, as through tangled
GrammarFree relative was was here is a free relative pronoun, 'that which, whatever': was niedrig schaut means 'whatever is looking up from down low'. niedrig, 'low', is adverbial. verworrne is the clipped poetic form of verworrene, 'tangled'.
8
stalks and leaves, forward by the head
WordStems and leaves der Stiel, plural Stiele, means 'stalk, stem'; das Blatt, plural Blätter, means 'leaf'. Stiele und Blätter, both accusative plural, are the object of zieht, 'draws', from the previous line. nach vorne means 'to the front, forward'.
9
and binds it in quite small at the edge;
GrammarSeparable verb einbinden einbinden means 'to bind in, to tie into place'; being separable, bindet stands in the clause and ein closes it. es refers back to the figure drawn forward in the previous lines. am Rande, dative of der Rand, means 'at the edge'.
10
and stretches up again, alters and shifts about,
GrammarReflexive sich strecken sich strecken means 'to stretch oneself, to draw oneself up'. The reflexive sich turns the action back on the subject, der Zufall, 'chance'. verstellen means 'to shift, displace, rearrange' (also 'to disguise').
11
and has only just time, for the show,
Wordder Augenschein der Augenschein, literally 'eye-appearance', means 'visible appearance, the look of a thing'. zum Augenschein means 'for the show, for the visible moment'. nur eben means 'only just, barely'.
12
to spring back into the middle of the mat,
Grammarzu inside a separable verb The verb is the separable zurückspringen, 'to jump back'. In a zu-infinitive, zu is inserted between prefix and stem and the whole is written as one word: zurückzuspringen. It completes hat ... Zeit, ... zurückzuspringen, 'has time to spring back'.
13
on which in the next moment the smooth
GrammarRelative pronoun with delayed verb auf der means 'on which', a relative pronoun in the dative feminine, agreeing with die Matte, 'the mat'. German word order holds the finite verb until the end of the clause, so the subject and its verb arrive only two lines later.
14
weight-swinger swells out his heaviness.
WordA compound for the strongman Gewichteschwinger joins Gewichte, 'weights', with Schwinger, one who schwingt, 'swings, heaves'. schwellt, from schwellen, 'to swell, bulge', takes seine Schwere, 'his heaviness', as its object.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
The app: The same text on your phone, your place kept, the audio offline. The first poems free, the rest $4.99.
App Store Google Play
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents