# Die Versuchung · The Temptation

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-versuchung. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-versuchung.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Nein, es half nicht, daß er sich die scharfen  
No, it did not help that he drove the sharp
> Impersonal 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** Stacheln einhieb in das geile Fleisch;  
spines into his rank flesh;
> Separable 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.
> Geil 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** alle seine trächtigen Sinne warfen  
all his teeming senses cast
> Literally 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** unter kreißendem Gekreisch  
amid labouring shrieks
> Two 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** Frühgeburten: schiefe, hingeschielte  
premature births: crooked, askance-leering
> Premature 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** kriechende und fliegende Gesichte,  
crawling and flying apparitions,
> A 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** Nichte, deren nur auf ihn erpichte  
nieces whose malice, bent on him alone,
> erpicht 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** Bosheit sich verband und mit ihm spielte.  
joined forces and toyed with him.
> Reflexive 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** Und schon hatten seine Sinne Enkel;  
And already his senses had grandchildren;
> Grandchildren 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** denn das Pack war fruchtbar in der Nacht  
for the rabble was fruitful in the night
> A 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** und in immer bunterem Gesprenkel  
and in ever gaudier speckling
> immer 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** hingehudelt und verhundertfacht.  
botched out and multiplied a hundredfold.
> A 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** Aus dem Ganzen ward ein Trank gemacht:  
Out of the whole a draught was brewed:
> An 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** seine Hände griffen lauter Henkel,  
his hands closed on nothing but handles,
> Nothing 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** und der Schatten schob sich auf wie Schenkel  
and the shadow heaved open like thighs
> Separable 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 und zu Umarmungen erwacht–.  
warm and woken to embraces–.
> erwachen 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** Und da schrie er nach dem Engel, schrie:  
And then he cried out for the angel, cried:
> schreien 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** und der Engel kam in seinem Schein  
and the angel came in its radiance
> der 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** und war da: und jagte sie  
and was there: and drove them
> jagen, 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** wieder in den Heiligen hinein,  
back into the holy man again,
> hinein 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** daß er mit Geteufel und Getier  
so that with deviltry and beasts
> Two 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** in sich weiterringe wie seit Jahren  
he might go on wrestling within himself as for years,
> Subjunctive 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** und sich Gott, den lange noch nicht klaren,  
and distil for himself God, not yet clear for a long while,
> Nominalized 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** innen aus dem Jäsen destillier.  
out of the ferment within.
> A 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.

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Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.