German · New Poems

Die Insel

The Island

40 lines · 35 notes

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1
The next tide blurs the path across the flats,
DieTheder · determiner, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Flut
nächstenextnächster · adjective, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Flut
FluttideFlut · noun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on verwischt
verwischtblursverwischen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dentheder · determiner, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on Weg
WegpathWeg · noun, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on verwischt
imin thein · prepositiondepends on Weg
WattflatsWatt · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on im
Watt: the tidal mudflats of the North Sea coast.
WordThe tidal mudflats das Watt is the mudflat of the North Sea coast, bare at low tide and covered again at high tide. der Weg im Watt is a path that exists only between tides. verwischen means 'to blur, to wipe away'.
2
and on every side all things become the same;
3
but the little island out there has
GrammarContrast word placed mid clause aber, 'but', need not stand first in its clause. Here it follows the subject, die kleine Insel draußen aber, and still marks the whole clause as a contrast. The finite verb hat keeps second position, its object die Augen following next line.
4
its eyes shut; bewilderingly the dyke wheels round
GrammarSeparable verb split by line break die Augen zuhaben means 'to have one's eyes shut'. The separable verb splits: hat stands in the line above and its prefix zu lands here, so together hat die Augen zu means 'has its eyes shut'. verwirrend, 'bewilderingly', modifies kreist, 'wheels'.
5
around its dwellers, who into a sleep
GrammarVerb completed across the stanza The stanza break does not end the sentence: kreist der Deich um ihre Wohner means 'the dyke wheels around its dwellers'. um plus accusative, 'around', governs ihre Wohner, and in einen Schlaf is also accusative, marking motion into.
6
are born, wherein they many worlds
WordA short form of darin drin is a clipped form of darin, 'in it, therein', here meaning 'within which'. It points back to Schlaf, the sleep they are born into, and opens a subordinate clause whose verb is held to the end.
7
confuse in silence; for they seldom speak,
WordMeans to mix up things verwechseln means 'to mix up, to mistake one thing for another', not simply 'to confuse'. schweigend, 'in silence', is the present participle of schweigen, and denn, 'for', introduces the reason that follows: sie reden selten, 'they seldom speak'.
8
and every sentence is like an epitaph
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for something washed ashore, unknown,
GrammarAdjective turned into a noun after etwas After etwas, 'something', an adjective is capitalized and given a neuter -es ending: etwas Angeschwemmtes, Unbekanntes means 'something washed ashore, unknown'. angeschwemmt is the past participle of anschwemmen, 'to wash up, to deposit by water'.
10
that comes to them unexplained, and stays.
11
And so all that their gaze takes in is this,
WordCan also mean to trace beschreiben usually means 'to describe', but of an eye or a moving point it can also mean 'to trace, to circumscribe' a shape. alles, was ihr Blick beschreibt means 'everything their gaze takes in', with was referring back to alles.
12
from childhood on: not applied to them,
GrammarFrame meaning from onward The frame von … an means 'from … onward'; von Kindheit an means 'from childhood on'. an is a particle placed at the end of the phrase, not a preposition before its noun.
13
too vast, inconsiderate, sent here from afar,
WordWithout regard, sent from afar rücksichtslos means 'inconsiderate, heedless', literally 'without Rücksicht, regard for others'. hergesandt is the past participle of hersenden, 'to send here'. Both are nominalized as neuter -es nouns continuing a list.
14
and only deepens their loneliness the more.
WordUsed of loneliness, not exaggeration übertreiben usually means 'to exaggerate', but applied to Einsamkeit, 'loneliness', it means 'to carry to excess, to heighten'. noch means 'still more', and das refers back to the things listed in the lines above.
II
15
As if it lay within a ring of craters
GrammarIntroducing an unreal comparison als by itself, without ob, can mean 'as though', and the finite verb follows it right away: als läge er means 'as though it lay'. läge is the past subjunctive of liegen, 'to lie', marking the comparison as unreal.
16
upon a moon: each farmstead lies walled round,
WordWalled round by an embankment umdämmt is the past participle of umdämmen, 'to embank all around', from der Damm, 'dyke, embankment'. jeder Hof ist umdämmt means 'every farmstead is diked round'.
17
and there within, the gardens in like manner
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are dressed, and combed alike like orphans
WordCombed alike, like orphans die Waise means 'orphan', and gekämmt is the past participle of kämmen, 'to comb'. wie Waisen gleich gekämmt means 'combed alike, like orphans', describing gardens dressed all the same way.
19
by that storm which rears them up so harshly
WordTo raise a child erziehen means 'to bring up, to raise' a child. Applied to the storm, jenem Sturm, der sie so rauh erzieht means 'that storm which rears them so harshly'. jenem Sturm is dative after the agent von.
20
and for days on end makes them afraid with deaths.
GrammarJemandem bange machen, to frighten bange machen means 'to frighten, to make afraid', from bange, 'anxious'. tagelang means 'for days on end', and mit Toden uses an old plural of der Tod, 'death', meaning 'with deaths'.
21
Then one sits inside the houses, there, and sees
GrammarImpersonal man with drin man is the impersonal pronoun 'one, people in general' and takes a singular verb, man sitzt und sieht, 'one sits and sees'. in den Häusern drin doubles the sense of enclosure, in plus the colloquial drin, 'inside'.
22
in crooked mirrors what upon the dressers
WordSchief and die Kommode schief means 'crooked, slanted', so in schiefen Spiegeln means 'in crooked mirrors'. die Kommode, plural Kommoden, is a chest of drawers, and was is the object of sieht and the subject of steht in the next line.
23
stands, strange. And one among the sons
GrammarSentence continues past the stanza break The sentence runs on from the previous stanza: was auf den Kommoden Seltsames steht means 'what strange thing stands on the dressers'. Seltsames is a neuter adjectival noun, and einer von den Söhnen means 'one of the sons'.
24
steps out the door at evening and draws a sound
GrammarAccusative after vor for motion vor is a two-way preposition that takes the accusative with motion toward, so vor die Tür treten means 'to step outside'. ziehen here means 'to draw out, to coax' a sound, continued by aus in the next line.
25
from the accordion, soft as weeping;
WordAccordion compared to weeping die Harmonika is a hand-held accordion or concertina. das Weinen is the verb weinen, 'to weep', used as a noun, and wie Weinen weich means 'soft as weeping'.
26
so he had heard it in a foreign harbor—.
GrammarFuses er and es together ers is a contraction of er es, 'he it', so hörte ers means 'he heard it'. hörte is the simple past of hören, and in einem fremden Hafen means 'in a foreign harbor'.
27
And out there one among the sheep takes shape,
GrammarReflexive sich formen sich formen means 'to take shape, to form itself'; the reflexive sich makes the sheep the thing that takes shape rather than something being shaped. eines von den Schafen means 'one of the sheep', with the verb fronted after und draußen.
28
huge, almost menacing, upon the outer dyke.
WordDrohend and der Außendeich drohend is the present participle of drohen, 'to threaten', used as an adjective meaning 'menacing'. der Außendeich is the outer, seaward dyke, the first barrier against the flood.
III
29
Near is only the inward; all else is far.
WordA contracted noun for inward das Innre, a contracted form of das Innere, means 'the inner part, the inward'. nah, 'near', is fronted for emphasis, and andre is a clipped form of andere, 'other'.
30
And this interior, crowded and quotidian,
WordTwo participles used as adjectives gedrängt is the past participle of drängen, 'to press, to crowd', used as an adjective meaning 'crammed, dense'. täglich means 'daily, everyday'. The clause has no finite verb of its own; it leans on dieses Innere from the line before.
31
overfilled with everything, and quite unspeakable.
WordÜberfüllt and unsäglich überfüllt, the past participle of überfüllen, means 'overfilled, crammed full'. unsäglich means 'unspeakable, ineffable', built from sagen, 'to say', with un- and -lich.
32
The island is like a too-small star,
GrammarMeaning too before an adjective zu before an adjective means 'too', so ein zu kleiner Stern means 'a too-small star'. der Stern means 'star', and the adjective klein takes the strong -er ending after ein.
33
which space takes no note of, and mutely destroys
GrammarAccusative relative pronoun as object welchen is the masculine accusative relative pronoun, 'which', object of both merkt and zerstört. der Raum, 'space', is the subject, and stumm means 'mute, silently'.
34
in its unconscious dreadful being,
WordA coined noun for dreadful being unbewußt, an old spelling of unbewusst, means 'unconscious, unaware'. das Furchtbarsein welds furchtbar, 'dreadful', to sein, 'to be', into a noun meaning 'dreadful being'.
35
so that it, unlit and unheard,
GrammarSends the verb to clause end so daß, an old spelling of so dass, means 'so that' and introduces a result, sending its finite verb to the end. unerhellt means 'unlit', and überhört is the past participle of überhören, 'to fail to hear'.
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alone,
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that all of this might come at last to an end,
GrammarSubjunctive of purpose damit means 'so that, in order that' and introduces purpose, sending its verb, nehme, to the clause's end. nehme is the Konjunktiv I subjunctive of nehmen, and ein Ende nehmen is a set phrase meaning 'to come to an end'.
38
darkly, on a self-invented orbit,
WordA self-invented path or orbit selbsterfunden means 'self-invented', from selbst and erfinden; its ending -nen is a clipped form of -enen, the full dative feminine form being selbsterfundenen. die Bahn means 'path, track, orbit'.
39
tries to go, blindly, not within the plan
WordAn adverb formed with -lings blindlings means 'blindly, headlong', formed with the suffix -lings, as in rücklings, 'backward'. versucht zu gehen means 'tries to go', using versuchen zu plus an infinitive.
40
of the wandering stars, the suns and systems.
WordThe old word for planet der Wandelstern, 'wandering star', is an old German word for a planet, a body that moves against the fixed stars. der Wandelsterne, Sonnen und Systeme is a genitive plural depending on Plan in the line before.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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