German · New Poems: The Other Part

Die Versuchung

The Temptation

24 lines · 25 notes

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1
No, it did not help that he drove the sharp
NeinNonein · particledepends on half
esites · pronoun, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on half
halfhelpedhelfen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
nichtnotnicht · particledepends on half
daßthatdaß · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause with einhieb (s1-l2)
erheer · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of einhieb (s1-l2)
sichhimselfsich · pronoun, dative, singular, reflexivedepends on einhieb (s1-l2)
Dative reflexive: 'sich etwas einhauen' = to drive something into oneself.
dietheder · determiner, accusative, masculine, pluraldepends on scharfen
scharfensharpscharf · adjective, accusative, masculine, pluraldepends on Stacheln (s1-l2)
GrammarImpersonal es with helfen es half nicht, daß means 'it did no good that' or 'it was no use that'. helfen, 'to help, avail', is used impersonally here, with es as a placeholder subject while the real content follows in the daß-clause. daß is the pre-1996 spelling of dass.
2
spines into his rank flesh;
GrammarSeparable verb einhauen, split einhieb is the simple past of the separable verb einhauen, 'to drive in, hack into', with the prefix ein- fused back onto hieb because the verb sits at the end of the daß-clause. Its object, die scharfen Stacheln, 'the sharp spines', was begun in the line before, split across the line break.
WordGeil in its older sense geil here means 'lustful, lecherous, rank', not the modern colloquial sense. It also carries an older meaning of vegetation grown too lush, 'rank'. das geile Fleisch describes the flesh as overgrown with desire, the thing the spines are driven into.
3
all his teeming senses cast
WordLiterally pregnant trächtig means 'pregnant, gravid', normally used of animals carrying young. Applied to Sinne, 'senses', it makes the senses gravid, set up to werfen, 'to cast', in the next stanza, itself the verb for an animal giving birth to a litter.
4
amid labouring shrieks
WordTwo near-homophones fused kreißend is the present participle of kreißen, 'to be in labour, to writhe in childbirth'. Gekreisch means shrieking, from the Ge- prefix marking a mass of noise. Kreißendem Gekreisch, 'in-labour shrieking', joins the two similar-sounding words so birth-cries and screams read as one sound.
5
premature births: crooked, askance-leering
WordPremature births as object Frühgeburten, 'premature births', is the accusative object of warfen two lines above, in apposition with Gesichte and Nichte. The senses cast up these premature births rather than children. Hingeschielte is coined from schielen, 'to squint, look askance', describing them as crooked and leering.
6
crawling and flying apparitions,
WordA second plural of Gesicht das Gesicht has two plurals. Gesichter means 'faces'; Gesichte, used here, means 'visions, apparitions'. The parses mark it as accusative, in apposition with Frühgeburten, both objects of warfen. Rilke chooses the visionary plural, not the plural for faces.
7
nieces whose malice, bent on him alone,
Grammarerpicht auf plus accusative erpicht auf etwas or jemanden sein means 'to be bent on, fixed on' something, and takes the accusative, here auf ihn, 'on him'. The relative deren points ahead to Bosheit in the next line, so the clause reads 'nieces whose malice, bent only on him,'.
8
joined forces and toyed with him.
GrammarReflexive verbinden sich verbinden means 'to join together, combine, ally'. Bosheit sich verband is 'malice joined itself together', the reflexive sich taking the accusative. verband and spielte are both simple past, and spielte continues the same relative clause opened by deren in the line before.
9
And already his senses had grandchildren;
WordGrandchildren of the senses der Enkel means 'grandchild, grandson'. Here it is the accusative object of hatten: seine Sinne hatten Enkel, 'his senses had grandchildren'. This marks a third generation, since the senses already produced Frühgeburten in the stanza before. schon means 'already'.
10
for the rabble was fruitful in the night
WordA contemptuous collective noun das Pack is a collective noun meaning 'rabble, riffraff'. It is the nominative subject of war. fruchtbar means 'fertile, fruitful'. denn, 'for, because', links this line back to the previous one as its explanation: the pack was fruitful in der Nacht, 'in the night'.
11
and in ever gaudier speckling
Grammarimmer with a comparative immer placed before a comparative adjective means 'ever, increasingly': immer bunter is 'ever more colourful'. bunterem takes the dative ending because it follows the preposition in. Gesprenkel, 'speckling, mottling', is a Ge- noun built from sprenkeln, 'to speckle'.
12
botched out and multiplied a hundredfold.
WordA hundredfold, verb form verhundertfachen means 'to multiply a hundredfold', built from hundert plus the multiplying suffix -fach, the same pattern as verdoppeln, 'to double'. hinhudeln is a colloquial verb meaning 'to dash off carelessly, to botch'. Both appear here as past participles depending on war two lines above.
13
Out of the whole a draught was brewed:
GrammarAn old form of wurde ward is an older simple-past form of werden, 'to become', equivalent to modern wurde. ward gemacht is passive, 'was made'. aus dem Ganzen means 'out of the whole (of it)', and ein Trank is 'a draught, a potion', the accusative object made from the whole swarm.
14
his hands closed on nothing but handles,
WordNothing but, not louder Uninflected lauter placed before a noun means 'nothing but, sheer, all', not 'louder', which would be an inflected comparative of laut. griffen lauter Henkel is 'closed on nothing but handles'. der Henkel is the handle of a jug or cup, the accusative object of griffen.
15
and the shadow heaved open like thighs
GrammarSeparable verb split across sich sich aufschieben means 'to push, heave itself open'. The separable prefix auf lands at the end of the clause, after the reflexive sich: der Schatten schob sich auf, 'the shadow heaved itself open'. schob is the simple past of schieben, 'to shove'.
16
warm and woken to embraces–.
Grammarerwachen zu plus dative erwachen zu etwas means 'to wake to, to awaken into something'. zu Umarmungen erwacht is 'awakened to embraces', with the dative plural Umarmungen following zu. erwacht here is a past participle depending on Schenkel in the line before.
17
And then he cried out for the angel, cried:
Grammarschreien nach plus dative schreien nach etwas or jemandem means 'to cry out for someone or something', and takes nach plus dative, here nach dem Engel, 'for the angel'. schrie is the simple past of schreien. da here means 'then, at that moment', not 'there'.
18
and the angel came in its radiance
Wordder Schein, a glow der Schein means 'shine, gleam, radiance', from scheinen, 'to shine'. in seinem Schein is 'in its glow', dative after in. The same noun can also mean 'appearance, semblance', but the parses show it governed by kam, 'came', naming the angel's literal light.
19
and was there: and drove them
Wordjagen, to drive or chase jagen means 'to hunt, chase, drive'. jagte sie takes sie, 'them', as its accusative object, referring to the swarm of visions named earlier. Its directional completion, hinein, 'into', arrives in the next line as a separable prefix.
20
back into the holy man again,
Grammarhinein completes the verb hinein means 'into there, inward', and completes jagte from the line before as its separable prefix: jagte hinein, 'drove in'. den Heiligen, 'the holy man', is an accusative nominalized adjective marking the goal of that motion, in den Heiligen hinein, 'back into the holy man'.
21
so that with deviltry and beasts
WordTwo Ge- collective nouns das Getier is a standard collective for 'creatures, beasts' as a mass. das Geteufel is coined on the same pattern from Teufel, 'devil', meaning 'a mass of devilry'. Both are dative after mit, and the daß clause states what the angel intends: that he continue struggling amid them.
22
he might go on wrestling within himself as for years,
GrammarSubjunctive after daß of purpose weiterringe is present subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) of the separable verb weiterringen, 'to keep wrestling, struggle on'. After the purpose clause introduced by daß, German uses the subjunctive for the intended result: 'so that he might go on wrestling'. in sich means 'within himself'.
23
and distil for himself God, not yet clear for a long while,
GrammarNominalized adjective as appositive den lange noch nicht klaren is an accusative phrase in apposition to Gott: 'God, the one not yet clear'. klar, 'clear', is nominalized with the article den. lange noch nicht means 'still not, for a long time'. sich, 'for himself', belongs to destillier in the next line.
24
out of the ferment within.
WordA nominalized verb and a clipped form das Jäsen is jäsen or gären, 'to ferment', used as a noun: 'the fermenting'. destillier is destilliere, 'distil', with its final -e dropped to rhyme with Getier. aus dem Jäsen destillier means 'might distil out of the ferment', continuing the subjunctive from weiterringe.

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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