German · New Poems

Eranna an Sappho

Eranna to Sappho

11 lines · 13 notes

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1
O you wild far-flinging woman:
OOo · interjectiondepends on du
duyoudu · pronoun, nominative, singulardepends on Werferin (in apposition)
wildewildwild · adjective, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Werferin
weitefarweit · adjective, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Werferin
Werferinflinging womanWerferin · noun, nominative, feminine, singularin apposition to du
WordA feminine noun for thrower der Werfer means 'one who throws', built from werfen, 'to throw'. Adding -in makes it feminine, die Werferin, 'a woman who throws'. weit, 'far, wide', is added here to describe her as someone who throws things a great distance.
2
Like a spear among other things
Grammarbei always takes the dative bei always takes the dative case. andern Dingen is the dative plural of andere Dinge, 'other things', marked by the ending -n. Here bei means 'among, alongside', so the phrase reads 'among other things'.
3
I lay among my own. Your ringing out
WordA possessive standing for family die Meinen means 'my own people, my kin', a possessive used as a noun for one's family or household. After bei it takes the dative form, den Meinen. lag, from liegen, 'to lie', is the simple past.
WordAn infinitive turned into a noun erklingen means 'to ring out, to start sounding'; the prefix er- marks the start of the action. Capitalized as das Erklingen, the infinitive becomes a noun, 'the ringing out'. Dein Erklingen means 'your sounding'.
4
flung me far. I do not know where I am.
GrammarA strong verb in the past warf is the simple past of the strong verb werfen, 'to throw'. Its stem vowel changes from e to a instead of adding an ending. The subordinate clause wo ich bin sends its verb, bin, to the end, as such clauses do.
5
No one can bring me back.
GrammarA separable verb kept whole wiederbringen means 'to bring back'; wieder-, 'back, again', is its separable prefix. It stays joined here because it follows the modal kann as an infinitive at the end of the clause. Mich is fronted first for emphasis.
6
My sisters think of me and weave,
Grammardenken without its usual preposition Standard German says an mich denken, 'to think of me', using the preposition an. Here mich stands alone as a direct accusative object of denken. weben, 'to weave', shares the same subject, Schwestern.
7
and the house is full of familiar footsteps.
Grammarvoll governs the genitive voll, 'full', takes the genitive case: voll vertrauter Schritte means 'full of familiar footsteps'. vertrauter Schritte is the genitive plural of vertraute Schritte. vertraut means 'familiar, trusted'.
8
I alone am far away and given away,
WordThe past participle of give away fortgegeben is the past participle of fortgeben, 'to give away, to hand over'; fort- means 'away'. Paired with fern, 'far away', it describes the speaker as someone removed and handed over to another.
9
and I tremble like a prayer;
WordA plea, not the word for please die Bitte means 'a request, an entreaty, a plea', from bitten, 'to ask, to beg'. It is not the everyday word bitte, 'please'. wie eine Bitte means 'like a plea', comparing the speaker's shaking to a plea held out.
10
for the beautiful goddess at the center
GrammarA conjunction that keeps normal order denn is a coordinating conjunction meaning 'for, because'. Unlike weil, it does not send the verb to the end of its clause, so ordinary word order continues. in der Mitte, 'at the center', takes the dative after in here to mark position.
11
of her myths glows and lives my life.
GrammarA genitive phrase split by a line ihrer Mythen is the genitive plural of ihre Mythen, 'her myths'. It completes a phrase begun on the line before, die Göttin in der Mitte ihrer Mythen, 'the goddess at the center of her myths', with the noun phrase split across the line break.
WordVerb and noun share one root mein Leben, 'my life', is the accusative object of lebt, from leben, 'to live'. Verb and noun share the same root, leben and Leben, so the phrase reads plainly as 'lives my life'.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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