German · New Poems

Früher Apollo

Early Apollo

14 lines · 16 notes

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1
As many a time, through the still leafless
Wieaswie · conjunctiondepends on Mal
manchesmany amancher · determiner, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on Mal
MaltimeMal · noun, accusative, neuter, singularhead of the phrase (time adverbial)
durchthroughdurch · prepositiondepends on durchsieht (governs Gezweig)
dastheder · determiner, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on Gezweig
nochstillnoch · adverbdepends on unbelaubte
unbelaubteleaflessunbelaubt · adjective, accusative, neuter, singulardepends on Gezweig
WordUn- makes the opposite belaubt means 'leafy, in leaf'. The prefix un- negates it, so unbelaubt means 'leafless, bare'. The adjective takes the ending -e because it stands before the noun Gezweig on the next line.
2
branches a morning looks through, one already wholly
WordA collective noun with Ge- The prefix Ge- on Zweig, 'branch', builds a collective noun. Das Gezweig means the whole mass of branches on a tree. German forms other collectives this way too, such as Gebirge from Berg.
GrammarSeparable verb fused in a clause durchsehen, 'to look through', is a separable verb. Here it appears fused as durchsieht because it is the finite verb of a clause introduced by wie. Read the clause as ein Morgen durchsieht das Gezweig, 'a morning looks through the branches'.
3
in springtime: so, in his head, there is
WordAn elevated word for head das Haupt is a formal, literary word for the head, where everyday German says der Kopf. In seinem Haupte keeps an old dative ending -e, typical of this more formal, poetic word choice.
4
nothing that could prevent the radiance
GrammarSubjunctive for a possibility könnte is the subjunctive form of können, 'can'. It marks something that could happen rather than something that does happen. nichts, was verhindern könnte means 'nothing that could prevent'.
GrammarVerb sent to clause end daß is the older spelling of dass, 'that', printed here as Rilke wrote it. It opens a subordinate clause, so its verb moves to the very end of that clause. Here the verb, träfe, does not arrive until the next stanza.
5
of all poems from striking us almost mortally;
GrammarSubjunctive of a strong verb träfe is the subjunctive form of the strong verb treffen, 'to strike, to hit'. Its stem vowel changes from e to ä in this form. It completes the daß clause begun earlier: 'that the radiance could strike us nearly to death'.
6
for as yet no shadow is in his gaze,
WordAn infinitive used as a noun Schaun is a poetic spelling of Schauen, the infinitive of schauen, 'to look, to gaze', used here as a neuter noun meaning 'the gazing' or 'the look'. German regularly turns infinitives into nouns this way. in seinem Schaun means 'in his gaze'.
7
too cool for laurel are his temples still,
8
and only later, out of the brows, will
GrammarFuture verb split across lines wird is the auxiliary that builds the future tense with werden plus an infinitive. Its infinitive, heben, does not appear until the first line of the next stanza. German always forms the future this way, auxiliary first, infinitive last.
9
the rose-garden raise itself on tall stems,
WordA compound describing tall stems hochstämmig joins hoch, 'high', with Stamm, 'stem, trunk'. It describes plants grown on tall stems, raised clear of the ground, as roses often are. Here it describes how the rose garden rises.
10
out of which petals, one by one, loosened,
WordLeaves or petals das Blatt, plural Blätter, means both 'leaf' and 'petal', as well as 'sheet of paper'. Following Rosengarten in the line before, these Blätter are rose petals.
GrammarPast participle used as adjective ausgelöst is the past participle of the separable verb auslösen, 'to release, to detach'. Used to describe Blätter, it means the petals have come loose. They will drift down in the next line, in the verb hintreiben.
11
will drift down upon the trembling of the mouth,
GrammarGenitive placed before its noun des Mundes is the genitive of der Mund, 'the mouth', meaning 'of the mouth'. Placed before its noun, des Mundes Beben means 'the shaking of the mouth'. Everyday German would instead say das Beben des Mundes.
12
which is as yet still, never-used and gleaming
WordA coined compound with nie niegebraucht fuses nie, 'never', with the past participle gebraucht, 'used'. Together they mean 'never used, still unused'. Rilke writes the two words as one for compression.
13
and only, with its smile, drinking something in,
GrammarPresent participles used as adjectives blinkend, 'gleaming', and trinkend, 'drinking', are present participles, formed by adding -d to the infinitive. Both describe the mouth. They present it in ongoing action rather than as a single finished event.
14
as though its singing were being poured into it.
GrammarA comparison marked as unreal als combined with the subjunctive würde marks an unreal comparison, close to 'as though'. würde ihm sein Singen eingeflößt means 'as though its singing were being poured into it'. einflößen means 'to instil, to pour something in'.

The particulars

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