German · New Poems: The Other Part

Esther

30 lines · 18 notes

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1
The serving-women combed for seven days
DieTheder · determiner, nominative, feminine, pluraldepends on Dienerinnen
Dienerinnenserving-womenDienerin · noun, nominative, feminine, pluralsubject of kämmten
kämmtencombedkämmen · verb, past, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
siebensevensieben · numeraldepends on Tage
TagedaysTag · noun, accusative, masculine, pluraldepends on kämmten
WordFeminine plural Dienerinnen Dienerinnen is the plural of Dienerin, 'female servant', formed with the feminine suffix -in from Diener, 'servant'. Die Dienerinnen kämmten means 'the serving-women combed', kämmten the preterite plural of kämmen, 'to comb'.
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the ash of her grief and of her torment,
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dregs and sediment out of her hair
WordNouns Neige and Niederschlag Neige means 'dregs, remains', and Niederschlag here means 'sediment, residue' rather than its more common sense 'rainfall'. Both are accusative objects of trugen in the next line, 'carried', describing what fell out during the combing.
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and carried it and sunned it in the open air
GrammarPreterites trugen and sonnten trugen is the preterite of tragen, 'to carry'. sonnten is the preterite of sonnen, 'to sun, to air in sunlight'. Both take es, 'it', as their accusative object, referring to the combed-out matter, Neige und Niederschlag, from before.
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and fed it with pure spices
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this day still, and that: but then there had
GrammarVerb introducing an event war here begins an impersonal construction completed in the next line, es war die Zeit gekommen, 'the time had come'. dann aber, 'but then', marks a shift after the days just named, noch diesen Tag und den.
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the time come when, unbidden,
WordAdjective ungeboten ungeboten is built from bieten, 'to offer, to bid', with the negative prefix un- and a participial ending, meaning 'unbidden, uninvited, unasked'. It describes sie, 'she', entering the palace without being summoned.
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at no appointed hour, like one of the dead,
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she entered the threateningly open palace,
GrammarPreterite betrat betrat is the preterite of betreten, 'to enter, to step into'. den ... Palast is its accusative object, 'the palace'. drohend offenen describes the palace as 'threateningly open', drohend an adverb modifying the adjective offen.
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to look, at once, laid upon her chamber-women,
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at the end of her way, on him
GrammarInfinitive zu schauen zu schauen, 'to look upon', is an infinitive with zu, its object den, 'him', placed before it. am Ende ihres Weges means 'at the end of her way', setting up the purpose of her long walk: finally to look upon him.
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at whom one dies, if one draws near to him.
GrammarPresent naht plus dative naht is the third person singular present of nahen, 'to draw near, to approach', which takes a dative object: wenn man ihm naht means 'if one draws near to him'. an dem man stirbt means 'at whom one dies', dem the dative relative pronoun.
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He shone so that she felt the crown-rubies
GrammarResult clause with daß so ... daß means 'so ... that', introducing a result: Er glänzte so, daß means 'he shone so brightly that'. The daß clause that follows, continuing into the next line, states the effect of his shining on her.
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flame up, the ones she bore upon her;
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she filled herself quite swiftly with his countenance
WordComparison, filling like a vessel sie füllte sich, 'she filled herself', uses the reflexive to show the action happening to the subject herself. ganz rasch, 'quite swiftly', and mit seiner Miene, 'with his countenance', describe how fast and with what she filled up, as though a vessel.
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like a vessel, and was already full enough
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and was already brimming over with the King's might,
GrammarGenitive des Königs des Königs is the genitive singular of der König, 'the king', meaning 'the king's'. floß ... über von des Königs Macht means 'brimmed over with the king's might', überfließen, 'to overflow', here separated by von marking the source that overflowed.
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before she had yet crossed the third hall,
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which ran her over green with the malachite
WordGenitive plural Wände Wände is the genitive plural of Wand, 'wall', here meaning 'of the walls'. mit seiner Wände Malachit means 'with the malachite of its walls', an older word order placing the genitive before the noun it depends on, Malachit.
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of its walls. She had not thought
GrammarPluperfect hatte gedacht hatte gedacht is the pluperfect of denken, 'to think', built from hatte plus the participle gedacht. It marks something that had not occurred to her before the moment described, continuing into the next line with what she had not thought.
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to make so long a passage with all the stones,
WordIdiom einen Gang tun einen Gang tun means 'to make a walk, to take a passage', with tun, 'to do', standing in for a more specific verb of motion. so langen Gang zu tun means 'to make so long a passage'. mit allen Steinen means 'with all the stones'.
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which grew the heavier from the King's radiance
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and cold from her own fear. She walked and walked.
GrammarRepeated verb ging ging is the preterite of gehen, 'to go, to walk'. Repeating it, Sie ging und ging, 'she walked and walked', shows the walking continuing without end, emphasizing the length of her approach through the palace.
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And when at last, almost from near, she saw
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him, resting upon the throne of tourmaline,
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tower up, as real as a thing:
WordComparison wie ein Ding wie ein Ding means 'like a thing, as real as an object'. It compares whatever she saw towering up, sich türmen sah, to something solid and physical, wirklich meaning 'real, actual'.
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the right one of the serving-women received
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the swooning one and held her toward the seat.
WordNominalized participle Schwindende Schwindende is the present participle schwindend, 'fainting, swooning', used as a noun with the article die: 'the swooning one'. hielt sie zu dem Sitze means 'held her toward the seat', hielt the preterite of halten, 'to hold'.
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He touched her with the tip of his sceptre;
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and she grasped it, without senses, within.
GrammarPrepositional phrase ohne Sinne ohne Sinne means 'without senses', ohne taking the accusative, Sinne the plural of Sinn, 'sense'. innen, 'within, inside', adds a second way of describing how she understood, without using her senses at all, but from inside herself.

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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