German · New Poems: The Other Part

Ein Prophet

A Prophet

18 lines · 14 notes

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1
Widened by enormous visions,
AusgedehntWidenedausdehnen · verb, participlemain verb of the sentence
vonbyvon · prepositiondepends on Ausgedehnt
riesigenenormousriesig · adjective, dative, pluraldepends on Gesichten
GesichtenvisionsGesicht · noun, dative, pluraldepends on von
WordPlural Gesichte, visions Gesichte, plural of Gesicht, here means 'visions', a different sense from the ordinary Gesicht, 'face'. Ausgedehnt von riesigen Gesichten means 'widened by enormous visions', with Gesichten in the dative after von.
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bright with the firelight from the course
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of the judgments that never destroy him,–
WordPlural Gerichte, judgments Gerichte, plural of Gericht, means 'judgments' here, distinct from the everyday senses 'court' or 'dish of food'. der Gerichte is genitive plural, depending on a noun in the line before. die ihn nie vernichten means 'that never destroy him'.
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are the eyes, gazing beneath thick
GrammarPlural verb sind sind, 'are', agrees with the plural subject die Augen, 'the eyes'. schauend, 'gazing', is a present participle describing the eyes, and unter dichten depends on a noun that follows in the next line.
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brows. And within his inner self there raise
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themselves up once again words,
GrammarSeparable verb aufrichten aufrichten, 'to raise up, to straighten', is separable: its prefix auf appears at the end of the clause while sich richten sit earlier, giving richten sich ... auf. wieder, 'again', and schon here work together to mean 'once again'.
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not his own (for what would his be,
GrammarSubjunctive wären wären is the past subjunctive, Konjunktiv II, of sein, 'to be'. was wären seine means 'what would his own be', a hypothetical question inside the parenthesis. The subjunctive marks it as unreal, not something that actually happens.
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and how gently they would be squandered),
WordParticiple vertan vertan is the past participle of vertun, 'to waste, to squander'. wären sie vertan, 'they would be squandered', is Konjunktiv II passive, continuing the hypothetical begun with wären in the line before.
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others, hard ones: pieces of iron, stones,
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which he must melt like a volcano,
GrammarRelative die, accusative die is a relative pronoun here, accusative plural, referring back to words named earlier in the poem. It is the object of schmelzen, 'to melt': die er schmelzen muß means 'which he must melt'. muß is the present tense of müssen, 'must'.
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in order to fling them, in the eruption of his mouth,
Grammarum ... zu, purpose clause um ... zu plus an infinitive states a purpose, 'in order to'. Here um sie ... auszuwerfen, continuing into the next line, means 'in order to fling them out'. sie is accusative plural, referring to words mentioned earlier.
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his mouth which curses and curses;
WordPresent tense flucht flucht is the third person singular present of fluchen, 'to curse'. Repeating it, flucht und flucht, 'curses and curses', shows the action continuing without stopping, describing the mouth that keeps cursing.
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while his brow, like the dog's
GrammarSubordinating conjunction während während means 'while' here, introducing a subordinate clause and sending its verb to the end of that clause. It contrasts what happens to his brow with the mouth described just before it.
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brow, that seeks to bear
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what the Lord takes from his brow:
WordNoun der Herr der Herr, 'the Lord', is masculine, nominative here as the subject of nimmt, 'takes'. von seiner Stirne nimmt means 'takes from his brow', describing what mark or burden God removes.
16
This one, This one, whom they would all find,
GrammarSubjunctive fänden fänden is the past subjunctive, Konjunktiv II, of finden, 'to find'. den sie alle fänden means 'whom they would all find', a hypothetical outcome rather than something that happens. It continues the unreal comparison begun in the surrounding lines.
17
if they followed the great pointing hands,
GrammarSubjunctive folgten plus dative folgten is the past subjunctive, Konjunktiv II, of folgen, 'to follow', continuing the hypothetical begun with fänden. folgen takes a dative object: folgten sie den ... Zeigehänden means 'if they followed the ... pointing hands'.
18
that show Him as He is: enraged.
WordParticiple ergrimmt ergrimmt is the past participle of ergrimmen, 'to become enraged', used here as a predicate after the colon: 'as he is: enraged'. It names the state the pointing hands would show him in, if followed.

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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