German · New Poems

Die Kurtisane

The Courtesan

14 lines · 15 notes

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1
Venice's sun will work within my hair
VenedigsVenice'sVenedig · proper noun, genitive, neuter, singulardepends on Sonne
SonnesunSonne · noun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on wird
wirdwillwerden · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
ininin · prepositiondepends on wird
meinemmymein · determiner, dative, neuter, singulardepends on Haar
HaarhairHaar · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on in
GrammarGenitive of a place name Venedigs is the genitive of Venedig, 'Venice', formed with a plain -s and no apostrophe, the same pattern as Berlins or Roms. Venedigs Sonne means 'Venice's sun', the subject of the sentence.
2
a gold prepare: of all of alchemy
GrammarFuture with werden wird … bereiten is the future tense: werden as auxiliary plus the infinitive bereiten, 'to prepare'. The infinitive is pushed to the end of its clause, landing on line 2, one line after wird.
3
its noblest outcome. And my brows, which
Worderlaucht, illustrious erlaucht means 'illustrious, noble, exalted', an old aristocratic adjective once used for princes. der Ausgang means 'outcome' or 'end result'. erlauchten Ausgang, with the accusative ending after aller Alchemie, means 'the illustrious outcome'.
4
resemble bridges — do you see them
Grammargleichen takes the dative gleichen, 'to resemble', governs the dative, so its object den Brücken carries the dative plural ending -n. die is the relative pronoun 'which', and it sends the verb gleichen to the end of its clause.
5
lead onward over the soundless peril
WordTo lead toward hinführen is the separable verb hin·führen, 'to lead' or 'conduct toward' a point away from the speaker. Here it is the verb of the relative clause begun the line before, with die as its subject.
Grammarob meaning over Here ob is not the conjunction 'whether' but an older preposition meaning 'over, above', taking the genitive. der lautlosen Gefahr is genitive after it, so the phrase means 'over the soundless peril'.
6
of the eyes, which a clandestine traffic
Wordder Verkehr, traffic der Verkehr means 'traffic, circulation', or 'dealings', the coming and going of people or vessels. ein heimlicher Verkehr, 'a clandestine traffic', is nominative here and is the subject of schließt in the next line.
7
binds to the canals, so that the sea
GrammarSeparable verb anschließen anschließen, 'to connect' or 'link', is separable. Its prefix an stands at the head of the clause while the conjugated stem schließt sits at the end, so schließt … an is one verb split across the line.
8
rises and falls and shifts in them. Whoever
9
once has seen me envies my own dog,
Grammarwer as whoever wer used without an antecedent opens a free relative clause meaning 'whoever' or 'anyone who'. Wer mich einmal sah is itself the subject of the main verb beneidet, 'envies'. sah is the simple past of sehen, 'to see'.
10
because upon him, in some idle pause,
Grammarweil sends the verb to the end weil, 'because', is a subordinating conjunction, so the finite verb is held to the end of its clause. Here that verb is erholt, from sich erholen, 'to rest', which does not appear until later in the sentence.
Wordzerstreut, absent-minded zerstreut literally means 'scattered', and figuratively 'absent-minded' or 'distracted'. in zerstreuter Pause, with the dative feminine ending after in, means 'in an absent-minded pause'.
11
the hand, which no ember has ever charred,
GrammarTwo negatives for emphasis nie, 'never', and keiner, 'no' or 'not any', stack two negatives here for emphasis rather than cancelling each other, an older usage meaning 'never charred by any ember at all'. die Glut means 'ember', and verkohlen means 'to char'.
12
the invulnerable, adorned one, rests—.
Wordun- plus verwundbar unverwundbar means 'invulnerable', built from the negating prefix un- and verwundbar, 'woundable', itself from verwunden, 'to wound'. die unverwundbare, feminine nominative, resumes die Hand as the subject of erholt.
13
And boys, the hopes of some old noble house,
Wordder Knabe, boy der Knabe, plural die Knaben, means 'boy' or 'youth', an elevated and now old-fashioned word. Hoffnungen aus altem Hause, 'hopes of an old house', stands in apposition to Knaben, naming what the boys are.
14
go, as on poison, to their ruin on my mouth.
Grammarzugrunde gehen, to perish zugrunde gehen is a fixed expression meaning 'to perish' or 'be ruined', clipped here to gehn … zugrund to fit the meter. gehn is the poetic short form of gehen, 'to go', and zugrund is its separated adverb at the clause's end.

The particulars

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