German · New Poems: The Other Part

Eine Welke

A Faded Woman

12 lines · 12 notes

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1
Lightly, as if after her death
LeichtLightlyleicht · adverbdepends on trägt (cross-segment)
wieas ifwie · subordinating conjunctiondepends on nach
nachafternach · prepositiondepends on Leicht
ihremherihr · determiner, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Tode
TodedeathTod · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on nach
WordTwo senses of leicht leicht means 'light' in weight, and also 'easy, effortless'. It stands first in the line, ahead of the verb trägt in the next line, giving it emphasis. It goes with nach ihrem Tode, 'after her death', which follows.
2
she carries the gloves, the shawl.
GrammarVerb-second word order trägt is the present tense of tragen, 'to carry, to wear', with the vowel shift a to ä in the third person. Because the sentence opens with the adverb Leicht, the verb comes second and the subject sie follows it. die Handschuh is a shortened plural for die Handschuhe, 'the gloves'.
3
A scent out of her chest of drawers
WordA chest of drawers die Kommode is a 'chest of drawers, dresser', borrowed from French. der Duft means 'scent, fragrance'; aus takes the dative, so aus ihrer Kommode is 'out of her dresser'.
4
drove out the dear, familiar smell,
GrammarSimple past of verdrängen verdrängte is the simple past of verdrängen, 'to displace, drive out, supplant'. It takes the accusative object den lieben Geruch, 'the dear smell'. lieben is the accusative masculine form of lieb, 'dear, familiar'.
5
by which she used to know herself,
Grammarsich erkennen an takes dative sich erkennen an means 'to recognize oneself by' something, and an governs the dative. dem is a relative pronoun pointing back to den lieben Geruch in the line before. sich is the reflexive object, 'herself'; früher means 'formerly, in earlier days'.
6
Now for a long while she did not ask who
Grammarlange nicht, and a split clause fragte is the simple past of fragen, 'to ask'. lange nicht means 'not for a long time'. The indirect question opened by wer, 'who', is cut off at the line break and finishes in the next line as wer sie sei, 'who she was'.
7
she was (: a distant relative),
GrammarSubjunctive in reported speech sei is the present subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) of sein, 'to be', the form German uses for reported thought: wer sie sei means 'who she might be'. eine ferne Verwandte, 'a distant relative', is the answer given in parentheses.
8
and walks about lost in thought
GrammarSeparable verb umhergehen umhergehen, 'to walk about, wander around', is separable: the prefix umher splits off and lands at the end of the clause, geht ... umher. in Gedanken is a fixed phrase meaning 'in thought, absent-mindedly', with the dative plural of Gedanke, 'thought'.
9
and tends to an anxious little room,
Grammarsorgen für takes accusative sorgen für means 'to care for, look after, see to', and takes the accusative: für ein ängstliches Zimmer. ängstlich normally means 'anxious, timid'; here it describes the room, agreeing with Zimmer in the accusative neuter singular.
10
which she sets in order and spares,
Wordschonen ordnen means 'to put in order, arrange'; schonen means 'to spare, to treat gently'. The relative pronoun das refers back to ein ängstliches Zimmer, 'the room', named in the line before.
11
because perhaps it still
Grammarweil sends the verb to the end weil, 'because', is a subordinating conjunction, so its verb is held back to the end of the clause, arriving as bewohnt two lines later. es, 'it', refers to the room. noch immer means 'still, even now'.
12
is lived in by the same girl.
Grammarbewohnen and its subject bewohnen means 'to inhabit, live in' and takes a direct object, here the room understood from earlier lines. The subject is dasselbe Mädchen, 'the same girl' (neuter das Mädchen), and bewohnt is the verb the weil-clause has been holding back since two lines before.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
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