# Don Juans Kindheit · Don Juan's Childhood

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

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

**1** In seiner Schlankheit war, schon fast entscheidend,  
In his slenderness there already was, almost decisively,
> Slenderness 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.
> A 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** der Bogen, der an Frauen nicht zerbricht;  
the bow that does not break against women;
> Bow, 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.
> an 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** und manchmal, seine Stirne nicht mehr meidend,  
and sometimes, no longer shunning his brow,
> A 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** ging eine Neigung durch sein Angesicht  
an inclination passed across his face
> Inclination, 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.
> An 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** zu einer, die vorüberkam, zu einer,  
toward one who passed by, toward one
> A 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** die ihm ein fremdes altes Bild verschloß:  
who locked away from him a strange, ancient image:
> Past 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** er lächelte. Er war nicht mehr der Weiner,  
he smiled. He was no longer the weeper,
> An 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** der sich ins Dunkel trug und sich vergoß.  
who carried himself off into the dark and poured himself out.
> A 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** Und während ein ganz neues Selbstvertrauen  
And while a wholly new self-assurance
> While, 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.
> A 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** ihn öfter tröstete und fast verzog,  
more often comforted him and almost spoiled him,
> verziehen, 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** ertrug er ernst den ganzen Blick der Frauen,  
he gravely bore the full gaze of the women,
> Verb-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.
> A 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** der ihn bewunderte und ihn bewog.  
which admired him and which swayed him.
> A 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.

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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.