German · New Poems: The Other Part

Eine Sibylle

A Sibyl

14 lines · 12 notes

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1
Once, ages ago, they called her old.
EinstOnceeinst · adverbdepends on nannte
voragovor · prepositiondepends on nannte
"vor Zeiten" is an idiom meaning "long ago, in days of old."
ZeitenagesZeit · noun, dative, feminine, pluraldepends on vor
nanntecallednennen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
mantheyman · pronoun, nominative, singulardepends on nannte
siehersie · pronoun, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on nannte
altoldalt · adjective, uninflected, predicatedepends on nannte
GrammarImpersonal pronoun man man is an impersonal subject pronoun meaning 'one, people, they', with no specific person named. nannte man sie alt means 'they called her old' or 'she was called old'. nannte is the preterite of nennen, 'to call, to name'.
2
Yet she stayed, and kept coming the same road
GrammarAccusative of path, Straße kam dieselbe Straße uses the accusative Straße, 'road', to mark the path traveled, an accusative of extent rather than a direct object. dieselbe means 'the same'. kam is the preterite of kommen, here meaning 'kept coming'.
3
daily. And they changed the measures,
4
and counted her as one counts a forest
Grammarwie plus accusative wie einen Wald compares her to a forest, with Wald taking the same accusative case as sie, the direct object of zählte, 'counted'. wie, 'as, like', here introduces a comparison rather than a question.
5
by centuries. But she stood
Grammaraber in second position aber, 'but', sits after Sie, 'she', its normal position when contrasting with what came before. Sie aber stand means 'but she stood', shifting the focus from the centuries just mentioned to her unchanging presence.
6
every evening in the same place,
GrammarAccusative of time, jeden Abend jeden Abend, 'every evening', is an accusative of time, a phrase that takes the accusative case without any preposition to mark how often something happens. It answers the question when, modifying stand from the line before.
7
black like an old citadel,
8
high and hollow and burnt-out;
WordParticiple ausgebrannt ausgebrannt is the past participle of ausbrennen, 'to burn out'. Used as a predicate adjective alongside hoch and hohl, 'high' and 'hollow', it describes her as burnt out, spent from long use as an oracle.
9
by the words that, unguarded,
WordDative plural den Worten den Worten is the dative plural of Wort, 'word', governed by von, 'by'. die sich unbewacht introduces a relative clause describing these words, continuing into the next line, sich referring back to the words themselves.
10
against her will multiplied within her,
WordFixed phrase wider ihren Willen wider ihren Willen means 'against her will'. wider is an older preposition taking the accusative, distinct from wieder, 'again'. The words multiplied in her wider ihren Willen, against what she wanted.
11
forever shrieked around and flown about,
GrammarThe prefix um- umschrieen and umflogen are past participles of umschreien and umfliegen, both built with the prefix um-, meaning 'around'. umschreien means 'to shriek around someone', umfliegen 'to fly around someone'. Both describe things happening all around her.
12
while those already homeward-returned
GrammarNominalized participle heimgekehrten heimgekehrten is the past participle of heimkehren, 'to return home', used as a noun with the article die: 'those who returned home'. schon wieder means 'once again'. It refers to other prophetic voices already back among ordinary life.
13
darkly beneath the arches of her brows
WordCompound noun Augenbogen Augenbogen combines Auge, 'eye', and Bogen, 'arch, bow', meaning 'brow-arch, the arch above the eye'. It is dative plural here, unter ihren Augenbogen, 'beneath her brow-arches', after the preposition unter.
14
sat, ready for the night.
GrammarPreterite saßen saßen is the preterite of sitzen, 'to sit'. fertig für die Nacht, 'ready for the night', is a predicate phrase describing the state they sat in. The subject, likely the words or visions from earlier lines, is left unstated in this fragment.

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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