German · New Poems: The Other Part

Don Juans Kindheit

Don Juan's Childhood

12 lines · 17 notes

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1
In his slenderness there already was, almost decisively,
Ininin · prepositiondepends on war
seinerhissein · determiner, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Schlankheit
SchlankheitslendernessSchlankheit · noun, dative, feminine, singulardepends on In
warwassein · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
schonalreadyschon · adverbdepends on entscheidend
fastalmostfast · adverbdepends on entscheidend
entscheidenddecisivelyentscheidend · adverbdepends on war
WordSlenderness as an abstract noun schlank means 'slim, slender'; the suffix -heit turns an adjective into an abstract noun, so die Schlankheit means 'slenderness'. Here it stands in the dative after in, in seiner Schlankheit.
GrammarA participle used as adverb entscheidend is the present participle of entscheiden, 'to decide', used here adverbially to mean 'decisively'. Like an English -ing form, the German participle in -end can modify a whole clause, here schon fast entscheidend, 'already nearly decisively'.
2
the bow that does not break against women;
WordBow, curve, or arc der Bogen means both an archer's bow and any sweeping curve or arc. Read against Schlankheit, it names the line of the boy's body, a bow that bends against women in an Frauen ... zerbricht without breaking.
Grammaran plus dative marks contact an with the dative marks the point of contact: an Frauen ... zerbricht means 'breaks against women'. The relative pronoun der, subject of zerbricht, refers back to der Bogen in the line before.
3
and sometimes, no longer shunning his brow,
GrammarA participle with its own object meidend is the present participle of meiden, 'to avoid, shun'. German lets a participle take an object directly: seine Stirne ... meidend means 'avoiding his brow'. With nicht mehr, 'no longer', it sets up the impulse shown on his face in the next line.
4
an inclination passed across his face
WordInclination, a double sense die Neigung comes from neigen, 'to bend, lean, tilt', and carries both a literal 'tilt' and the emotional sense 'inclination, fondness'. Here it is nominative singular, subject of ging.
WordAn elevated word for face das Angesicht is an elevated, somewhat archaic word for 'face, countenance', loftier than the everyday Gesicht. Here it stands as the accusative object of the preposition durch, 'across, through'.
5
toward one who passed by, toward one
GrammarA separable verb at the clause end vorüberkommen, 'to pass by, go past', is separable. In this subordinate clause the prefix stays joined and the finite verb moves to the end: die vorüberkam means 'who passed by'. The bare einer, 'one', leaves the woman unnamed.
6
who locked away from him a strange, ancient image:
GrammarPast tense, with a dative object verschloß is the simple past of verschließen, 'to lock, close off'; the dative ihm names who is shut out, 'closed off to him'. The old spelling verschloß, kept here exactly, is written verschloss in modern German.
7
he smiled. He was no longer the weeper,
WordAn agent noun from weinen der Weiner is a rare agent noun built from weinen, 'to weep': 'the one who weeps, the weeper'. German freely coins such -er nouns from verbs, and here it names the boy's old, crying self, now set aside.
8
who carried himself off into the dark and poured himself out.
GrammarA reflexive verb for spilling over vergießen means 'to spill, shed', as one sheds tears in Tränen vergießen. Made reflexive, sich vergießen means 'to pour oneself out, spill over'. The old spelling vergoß is kept here; modern German writes vergoss.
9
And while a wholly new self-assurance
GrammarWhile, holding its verb until later während means 'while, during the time that' and sends its verb to the end of its clause, here verzog two lines down. It opens a clause that runs across the whole stanza until the main verb ertrug finally arrives.
WordA transparent compound noun Selbstvertrauen joins selbst, 'self', and Vertrauen, 'trust, confidence', to mean 'self-confidence, self-assurance'. It names what follows the boy's tears in the previous stanza, a settled trust the next line says will both comfort and spoil him.
10
more often comforted him and almost spoiled him,
Wordverziehen, meaning to spoil verziehen, past tense verzog, here means 'to spoil, indulge', as one spoils a pampered child. Set against tröstete, 'comforted', it shows the new confidence does more than soothe him: it begins to indulge him.
11
he gravely bore the full gaze of the women,
GrammarVerb-first after a long clause After the long während clause, the main clause opens with its verb: ertrug er means 'he bore'. German inverts to verb before subject when a subordinate clause comes first. ertragen means 'to bear, endure'; ernst, 'gravely', describes how he meets the women's gaze.
GrammarA genitive naming whose gaze der Frauen is the genitive plural, 'of the women', marking whose gaze this is: den ganzen Blick der Frauen means 'the whole gaze of the women'. The accusative den ganzen Blick is what he endures; the genitive tells us the gaze belongs to them.
12
which admired him and which swayed him.
GrammarA strong past, to move or sway bewog is the strong past of bewegen in its figurative sense, 'to move, induce, sway someone'. The literal 'move physically' instead uses the weak past bewegte. The women's gaze does not just admire him, it bewog him, setting him in motion toward them.

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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