German · New Poems: The Other Part

Eva

Eve

14 lines · 17 notes

Tap a line to open its words. The mark beside it plays it.

1
Simply she stands at the cathedral's
EinfachSimplyeinfach · adverbdepends on steht
stehtstandsstehen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
sieshesie · pronoun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on steht
anatan · prepositiondepends on steht
dertheder · determiner, genitive, feminine, singulardepends on Kathedrale
Kathedralecathedral'sKathedrale · noun, genitive, feminine, singulardepends on Aufstieg
'der Kathedrale' is a genitive attribute of 'Aufstieg' in the next line ('der Kathedrale großem Aufstieg' = "the cathedral's great ascent"), the literary genitive-before-noun pattern (cf. 'der Tiere Eintracht' later in this batch) — not a dative object of 'an' (that slot is filled by 'großem Aufstieg').
WordAdverb opening the poem einfach means 'simple, plain' as an adjective and 'simply, just' as an adverb. Here it stands first in the sentence and modifies steht, 'stands', describing how Eve stands rather than what she is.
2
great ascent, close by the rose window,
GrammarGenitive noun placed before its head an der Kathedrale großem Aufstieg means 'at the cathedral's great ascent'. der Kathedrale is a genitive placed before its noun Aufstieg rather than after it; plain order would be am großen Aufstieg der Kathedrale. groß takes the dative ending -em after an.
WordCompound noun for the rose window die Fensterrose, literally 'window rose', names the large round stained-glass window on a Gothic cathedral's front. It is a compound of das Fenster, 'window', and die Rose, 'rose', and here places Eve near it on the façade.
3
with the apple in the apple-pose,
WordCoined compound for a pose die Apfelpose is Rilke's coinage, joining der Apfel, 'apple', and die Pose, 'pose'. It names the fixed stance in which Eve is always sculpted, holding the apple.
4
guiltless-guilty once and for all
WordHyphenated pair of opposites schuldlos-schuldig joins two opposites with a hyphen: schuldlos, 'guiltless', built with the negating suffix -los, 'without', and schuldig, 'guilty'. die Schuld means both 'guilt' and 'debt'. ein für alle Male is a fixed phrase meaning 'once and for all'.
5
for the growing thing she bore,
GrammarParticiple used as a noun das Wachsende is the present participle of wachsen, 'to grow', used as a neuter noun meaning 'that which grows'. It is governed by an from the previous line: an dem Wachsenden means 'for the growing thing'.
WordStrong verb for gave birth gebar is the simple past of gebären, 'to give birth, to bear', a strong verb: gebären, gebar, geboren. das sie gebar means 'which she bore'; das is neuter to agree with das Wachsende, and the verb stands at the end of the relative clause.
6
since she, out of the circle of eternities,
GrammarSubordinating conjunction for since seit means 'since' in the temporal sense. As a subordinating conjunction it opens the clause seit sie ... fortging, 'since she ... left', and sends the finite verb fortging to the end of the clause.
7
lovingly went forth, to fight her way
GrammarSeparable verb fortgehen fortging is the simple past of the separable verb fortgehen, 'to go away, to depart', built from gehen, 'to go', and the prefix fort-, 'away'. liebend, 'lovingly', is the present participle of lieben, 'to love', used as an adverb.
Grammarum zu with a separable verb um sich durchzustreiten means 'in order to fight her way through'. um plus zu plus infinitive expresses purpose. The verb is the reflexive, separable sich durchstreiten, 'to struggle through', and zu slips inside the verb, between prefix and stem: durch-zu-streiten.
8
through the earth, like a young year.
Wordwie introducing a simile wie here means 'like, as', introducing a simile. ein junges Jahr means 'a young year', the year at its turn. durch die Erde means 'through the earth', so the line compares Eve's passage to a new year breaking through soil.
9
Ah, she would gladly, in that land,
GrammarKonjunktiv II with double infinitive sie hätte ... weilen mögen is a Konjunktiv II, past subjunctive, of unreal wish, completed by weilen in the next line: 'she would have liked to linger'. gern means 'gladly'. mögen as a modal in the perfect takes a double infinitive, weilen mögen, rather than a participle.
10
have lingered a little longer, heeding
WordLiterary verb for to linger weilen is a literary verb meaning 'to stay, to linger, to dwell a while', related to die Weile, 'a while', and verweilen, 'to tarry'. noch ein wenig weilen means 'to linger a little longer'. achtend is the present participle of achten auf, 'to pay heed to'.
11
the animals' concord and understanding.
GrammarGenitive plural placed before its nouns der Tiere is the genitive plural of das Tier, 'animal', placed before the nouns it qualifies: der Tiere Eintracht und Verstand means 'the animals' concord and understanding'. Prose order would be die Eintracht und der Verstand der Tiere. die Eintracht means 'concord', der Verstand 'reason'.
12
Yet since she found the man resolved,
Grammarda as a causal conjunction da here is a subordinating conjunction meaning 'since, because', not the adverb 'there'. da sie den Mann entschlossen fand means 'since she found the man resolved', and da sends its verb fand, from finden, 'to find', to the end of the clause.
13
she went with him, striving toward death,
Grammartrachten nach governs the dative trachten nach means 'to strive after, to seek', and governs the dative: nach dem Tode trachtend means 'striving toward death'. trachtend is the present participle. dem Tode is der Tod, 'death', in the dative with the old literary -e ending.
14
and she had hardly yet known God.
GrammarPluperfect for had hardly known sie hatte ... gekannt is the pluperfect of kennen, 'to know, to be acquainted with', formed with hatte plus the past participle. noch kaum means 'hardly yet, scarcely'. gekannt is the participle of kennen.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
The app: The same text on your phone, your place kept, the audio offline. The first poems free, the rest $4.99.
App Store Google Play
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents