German · New Poems

Geburt der Venus

Birth of Venus

63 lines · 65 notes

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1
On this morning, after the night that had passed
AnOnan · prepositiondepends on brach
diesemthisdieser · determiner, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Morgen
MorgenmorningMorgen · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on An
nachafternach · prepositiondepends on An
dertheder · determiner, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Nacht
NachtnightNacht · noun, dative, feminine, singulardepends on nach
diethatder · pronoun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on vergangen
bangin dreadbang · adjectivedepends on vergangen
Grammaran plus dative for time German names a day or part of a day with an plus the dative case: an diesem Morgen, 'on this morning'. diesem is the dative masculine form of dieser, 'this', agreeing with Morgen, 'morning'.
2
in dread, with cries, unrest, uproar—
GrammarPast perfect formed with sein vergehen, 'to pass, to elapse', is a verb of change and forms its perfect tenses with sein, not haben. vergangen war is the past perfect, 'had passed', describing die Nacht, 'the night', from the line before.
WordUnruh and Aufruhr Unruh is a shortened, poetic form of Unruhe, 'unrest, disquiet'. Aufruhr means 'uproar, turmoil'. Both are dative after mit, 'with': mit Rufen, Unruh, Aufruhr means 'with cries, unrest, uproar'.
3
the whole sea broke open once more and cried out.
GrammarSeparable verb, prefix at the end aufbrechen, 'to burst open', is separable. In this main clause the prefix auf splits off and goes to the end of the clause: brach alles Meer ... auf, 'the whole sea broke open'. brach comes from brechen, 'to break'.
4
And as the cry slowly closed again
GrammarOne time past event marker German uses als, 'when', for a one time event in the past, not wenn. als is a subordinating conjunction, so it sends its verb, schloß, to the end of the clause: als der Schrei ... schloß, 'when the cry closed'.
5
and, from the sky's pale day and beginning,
GrammarOlder genitive form of Himmel Standard German forms the genitive of der Himmel, 'the sky', as des Himmels. Here Rilke uses the older form der Himmel instead, so der Himmel blassem Tag means 'the sky's pale day', with Tag itself in the dative after von.
6
fell down into the abyss of the mute fish—:
GrammarSeparable verb sent to the end herabfallen joins herab, 'down, toward the speaker', to fallen, 'to fall', meaning 'to fall down'. In this subordinate als clause the whole verb stays together at the end: als ... herabfiel, 'when it fell down'.
GrammarGenitive plural placed before its noun der stummen Fische is a genitive plural, 'of the mute fish', from stumm, 'mute', and Fisch, 'fish'. It is placed before its noun, Abgrund, 'abyss', instead of the usual order, der Abgrund der stummen Fische.
7
the sea gave birth.
GrammarStrong verb, simple past gebären, 'to give birth', is a strong verb, and its simple past is gebar, 'gave birth'. das Meer, 'the sea', is its subject: gebar das Meer means 'the sea gave birth'.
8
In the first sunlight the hair-foam shimmered
WordA compound noun Haarschaum joins Haar, 'hair', and Schaum, 'foam', into one word, 'hair foam'. German forms compounds this way freely, and the last part, Schaum, decides the gender, so der Haarschaum is masculine.
9
of the wide wave-sex, on whose edge
WordA coined compound noun Wogenscham joins Woge, 'wave', and Scham, which can mean 'shame' or, anatomically, 'the private parts', as in Schamhaar, 'pubic hair'. Rilke invents this word, so it has no listed meaning outside this poem, roughly 'wave sex'.
GrammarGenitive relative pronoun deren is the genitive form of the relative pronoun, here feminine singular, 'whose, of which'. an deren Rand means 'on the edge of which', referring back to Wogenscham. an plus Rand takes the dative here, marking a fixed position.
10
the girl stood up, white, bewildered and moist.
GrammarSeparable verb sent to the end aufstehen, 'to stand up', is separable. This is a relative clause, so its verb goes to the end with the prefix still joined: das Mädchen aufstand, 'the girl stood up'. Mädchen is neuter because nouns ending in chen are always neuter.
11
Just as a young green leaf stirs,
GrammarA reflexive verb form sich rühren means 'to stir, to move'. The pronoun sich, 'itself', is part of the verb, not a separate object. So wie, 'just as', opens a comparison that continues across several lines: ein Blatt sich rührt, 'a leaf stirs'.
12
stretches itself and slowly opens what was curled up,
GrammarAdjective used as a noun eingerollt, 'rolled up, coiled', is the past participle of einrollen, 'to roll up'. Capitalized, it becomes the neuter noun Eingerolltes, 'that which is rolled up'. It is accusative here as the object of aufschlägt, 'opens'.
WordTo open out aufschlagen is a separable verb; with a leaf or a bud it means 'to open out, to unfold'. schlägt ... auf here has Eingerolltes, 'what was curled up', as its object: it opens out what was rolled up.
13
her body unfolded into the coolness
GrammarReflexive verb, to unfold sich entfalten means 'to unfold, to open out'. entfaltete is its simple past, 'unfolded'. The subject is ihr Leib, 'her body': entfaltete ihr Leib sich means 'her body unfolded'.
14
and into the untouched early wind.
Grammarhinein reinforces a preposition hinein is an adverb meaning 'into, inward'. It reinforces the preposition in from the line before: in die Kühle hinein means 'into the coolness', with hinein placed at the start of this line for the verse.
15
Like moons the knees rose clearly up
GrammarSeparable verb, prefix at the end aufsteigen, 'to rise, to ascend', is separable. In this main clause auf goes to the end: stiegen ... die Kniee auf means 'the knees rose'. Kniee is an older plural spelling of Knie, 'knee'.
16
and dipped into the cloud-edges of the thighs;
GrammarGenitive plural placed before its noun der Schenkel is the genitive plural of Schenkel, 'thigh', meaning 'of the thighs'. It is placed before its noun, Wolkenränder, 'cloud edges', a compound of Wolke, 'cloud', and Rand, 'edge': 'the cloud edges of the thighs'.
17
the slender shadow of the calves drew back,
GrammarSeparable verb, prefix at the end zurückweichen, 'to draw back, to retreat', is separable. In this main clause zurück goes to the end: wich ... zurück, 'drew back'. wich comes from weichen, 'to yield, to give way'.
18
the feet tensed and grew bright,
WordBright, an unusual sense licht is an adjective here meaning 'bright, luminous', not the noun das Licht, 'light'. wurden, from werden, 'to become', pairs with it: wurden licht means 'grew bright', describing die Füße, 'the feet'.
19
and the joints lived like the throats
20
of those who drink.
GrammarAdjective used as a noun trinkend, 'drinking', is the present participle of trinken, 'to drink'. Used as a noun and capitalized, Trinkende means 'those who drink'. Here it is dative plural after von, 'of': von Trinkenden means 'of those who drink'.
21
And in the chalice of the pelvis the body lay
WordThe noun chalice der Kelch means 'chalice, cup', the vessel used in church for wine. in dem Kelch des Beckens uses it to name des Beckens, 'of the pelvis': 'in the chalice of the pelvis'.
22
like a young fruit in a child's hand.
GrammarGenitive noun placed before its noun eines Kindes is the genitive of ein Kind, 'a child', meaning 'a child's'. It stands before its noun Hand, 'hand': eines Kindes Hand means 'a child's hand', instead of die Hand eines Kindes.
23
In the narrow cup of its navel there was
GrammarGenitive noun placed before its noun seines Nabels is the genitive of sein Nabel, 'its navel', meaning 'its navel's'. It stands before its noun Becher, 'cup', which is dative after in: seines Nabels engem Becher means 'in the narrow cup of its navel'.
24
the whole darkness of this bright life.
WordDunkel and hellen das Dunkel, 'the darkness', is the adjective dunkel, 'dark', used as a noun. hellen is the genitive form of hell, 'bright, light', describing Lebens, 'of life': dieses hellen Lebens means 'of this bright life'.
25
Below it the little wave rose bright
GrammarReflexive verb, to rise sich heben means 'to rise, to lift itself'. hob is its simple past: hob sich means 'rose'. Darunter, 'below it', opens the sentence, and licht here means 'bright', describing die kleine Welle, 'the little wave'.
26
and flowed steadily over toward the loins,
GrammarSeparable verb split apart uberfliessen, 'to overflow, to flow over', is separable, so its prefix uber- splits off and goes to the end: floss bestandig uber. floss is the older spelling of floss, past tense of the strong verb fliessen, 'to flow'. nach den Lenden uses nach plus dative for direction, toward the loins.
27
where now and then a quiet trickling was.
WordFixed idiom for occasionally dann und wann is a fixed idiom meaning 'now and then, every so often'. ein stilles Rieseln, 'a quiet trickling', turns the verb rieseln, 'to trickle', into a neuter noun. The relative wo, 'where', points back to den Lenden in the line before.
28
Shone through, though, and still without shadow,
GrammarPast participle with no ge- durchscheinen means 'to shine through, to be translucent'. Its prefix durch- is unstressed and stays fixed, so the verb is inseparable and its past participle drops ge-: durchschienen, 'shone through'. It is fronted here as a predicate adjective, describing die Scham two lines on.
29
like a stand of birches in April,
WordA stand of trees der Bestand has the forestry sense 'a stand, a growth' of trees. ein Bestand von Birken is 'a stand of birches'. von plus dative, here Birken, marks what the stand is made of.
30
warm, empty and unconcealed the sex lay.
WordUn- reverses a past participle unverborgen means 'unconcealed, not hidden', from un- plus verborgen, the past participle of verbergen, 'to conceal'. It stands as a predicate adjective after warm and leer, all three describing die Scham, the grammatical subject of lag.
31
Now the lively scale of the shoulders already stood
WordOlder spelling and fronted genitive Wage is an older spelling of Waage, 'scale, balance'. der Schultern rege Wage fronts the genitive der Schultern, 'of the shoulders', before its noun Wage, so the phrase reads 'the shoulders' lively balance'. rege means 'lively, active'.
32
in equilibrium upon the straight body,
GrammarArchaic dative ending on a noun das Gleichgewicht, 'balance, equilibrium', here takes the old dative ending -e after in: im Gleichgewichte. This -e on masculine and neuter dative nouns now survives only in poetry and set phrases like im Grunde. graden is a poetic spelling of geraden, 'straight'.
33
which rose out of the pelvis like a fountain
WordClipped compound, verb at the end der Springbrunnen, 'a fountain', combines springen, 'to spring, leap', with Brunnen, 'well, spring'; here it is clipped to Springbrunn for the meter. The relative pronoun der, 'which', is the subject of aufstieg, the separable verb aufsteigen sent to the end of its clause.
34
and hesitatingly fell away down the long arms
GrammarSeparable verb at clause end abfallen, 'to fall away, to drop off', is separable, and in this relative clause the whole verb sits at the end: in den langen Armen abfiel. zogernd, 'hesitatingly', describes how it falls.
35
and faster in the full fall of the hair.
WordRare word standing in for fall Kall, sometimes Gekall, is a rare, dialectal word for the rush of falling water. The parse treats it as a stand-in for Fall, 'fall, descent', matching the translation. in dem vollen Kall des Haars means 'in the full fall of the hair', des Haars being genitive.
36
Then very slowly the face went past:
GrammarSeparable verb split by the clause vorbeigehen, 'to go past, to pass by', is separable, so its prefix vorbei- goes to the end: ging sehr langsam das Gesicht vorbei. das Gesicht, 'the face', is the subject of ging, which stands second in the clause.
37
out of the foreshortened darkness of its inclination
WordPast participle used as adjective verkurzt, 'shortened, foreshortened', is the past participle of verkurzen used as an adjective, here describing Dunkel, 'darkness'. aus dem verkurzten Dunkel is dative after aus, 'out of'; seiner Neigung, 'of its inclination', is genitive.
38
into clear, horizontal raisedness.
GrammarA phrase made into a noun erhoben sein means 'to be raised, lifted'. Here it is nominalized into one neuter noun, das Erhobensein, 'the state of being raised'. in klares, wagrechtes Erhobensein is accusative, showing motion into that state. wagrecht, modern waagerecht, means 'horizontal'.
39
And behind it the chin closed off steeply.
GrammarReflexive strong verb, verb second sich verschliessen means 'to close itself, to shut off'. verschliessen is strong, with past tense verschloss, spelled verschloss here in the old style. hinter ihm, 'behind it', opens the clause, so the subject das Kinn follows the verb, keeping the verb in second position.
40
Now, since the neck was stretched like a ray
GrammarDa meaning since As a subordinating conjunction, da means 'since, now that', and sends its verb to the end: da der Hals gestreckt war. gestreckt war is a past-tense state passive, 'was in the state of being stretched', using sein rather than haben. Strahl means 'ray, beam, jet'.
41
and like a flower-stem in which the sap rises,
GrammarPronominal adverb for in which darin fuses da(r)- with in to mean 'in it, in which, therein'. It stands for 'in which' relative to Blumenstiel, 'flower-stem': ein Blumenstiel, darin der Saft steigt. German uses these da(r)- and wo- forms instead of preposition plus relative pronoun for things.
42
the arms too stretched out like the necks
GrammarSeparable and reflexive together sich ausstrecken, 'to stretch out', is both separable and reflexive: the reflexive sich stays in place while the prefix aus- moves to the end, streckten sich auch die Arme aus. streckten, plural past of strecken, agrees with the plural subject die Arme.
43
of swans when they search for the shore.
GrammarSuchen nach plus dative suchen nach means 'to search for, to seek after'; nach governs the dative, here dem Ufer, 'the shore'. wenn sie ... suchen uses wenn, 'when, whenever', for a general, repeated situation rather than one specific moment.
44
Then into this body's dark early hour came
GrammarFronted genitive before its noun dieses Leibes is genitive, 'of this body', placed before its noun Fruhe: dieses Leibes dunkle Fruhe, 'this body's dark early hour'. die Fruhe means 'the early morning'. The clause opens with this phrase, so the subject follows the verb kam in the next line.
45
like a morning wind the first breath.
WordA compound noun for one breath der Atemzug is a single 'breath, intake of breath', literally Atem, 'breath', plus Zug, 'pull, draught'. der erste Atemzug, 'the first breath', is the subject of kam from the line before.
46
In the most delicate branching of the vein-trees
WordA coined compound noun Aderbaume joins Ader, 'vein', with Baum, 'tree', in the plural: 'vein-trees'. das Geast is the collective noun for the branches of a tree; im zartesten Geast is the superlative of zart, 'tender, fine', 'in the most delicate branching'.
47
a whispering arose, and the blood began
WordStrong verb of coming into being entstehen, 'to arise, to come into being', is a strong verb; its past tense is entstand. Like other verbs of change, it takes sein rather than haben in the perfect tense. entstand ein Flustern means 'a whispering arose'.
48
to rush over its deep places.
WordSound verb for rushing water rauschen describes the sound of rushing water, wind in leaves, or surging blood: 'to rush, to surge, to murmur'. begann zu rauschen means 'began to rush'. uber seinen tiefen Stellen is dative after uber, marking position, 'over its deep places'.
49
And this wind grew: now it flung itself
GrammarSeparable verb, prefix at the end anwachsen, 'to grow, to swell', is separable, so its prefix an- goes to the end of the main clause: dieser Wind wuchs an. wuchs is the strong past tense of wachsen, 'to grow'. After the colon, nun warf er sich begins the reflexive verb sich werfen, 'to fling oneself'.
50
with all its breath into the new breasts
GrammarIn plus accusative for motion warf ... sich ... in die neuen Bruste means 'flung itself into the new breasts'. in takes the accusative here because it marks motion into something, so die neuen Bruste is accusative, not dative.
51
and filled them and pressed itself into them—
GrammarSich drucken in plus accusative sich drucken in, 'to press oneself into', again takes the accusative for motion: in sie, 'into them', referring back to die Bruste. sie as an object is accusative here, identical in form to the nominative. The reflexive sich keeps the wind as the one acting.
52
so that they, like sails full of the distance,
GrammarResult clause sends verb to end dass, an older spelling of dass, means 'so that' and is subordinating, so it sends its verb, drangten in the next line, to the end of the clause. von der Ferne voll, 'full of the distance', is an inserted phrase describing the sails.
53
drove the light girl toward the shore.
GrammarNach plus dative for direction nach dem Strande, 'toward the shore', uses nach with the dative to show direction. drangten, plural past of drangen, 'to drive, to push', has das leichte Madchen as its object, 'drove the light girl'.
54
So the goddess came ashore.
GrammarWeak verb, simple past tense landen, 'to land, to come ashore', is a weak verb; its simple past is landete. die Gottin, 'the goddess', is the subject of landete, and So, 'so, thus', opens the sentence, sending the verb straight after it.
55
Behind her,
56
who strode swiftly on through the young shores,
GrammarCompound verb, verb second dahinschreiten, 'to stride on, to stride along', joins dahin, 'along, onward', with schreiten, 'to stride'; its past tense is dahinschritt. die, a relative pronoun, is the subject, referring back to die Gottin.
57
all morning long there rose up
GrammarAccusative for duration of time den ganzen Vormittag, 'the whole morning', is accusative because it names a stretch of time something happens over, not a location. erhoben sich, from sich erheben, 'to rise up', has its plural subject following in the next line.
58
the flowers and the grass-stalks, warm, disordered
WordA plural noun for grass stalks der Halm means 'a stalk, a blade', and die Halme is its plural, 'the grass-stalks'. It is coordinated with die Blumen, 'the flowers', both subjects sharing the predicate adjectives warm and verwirrt, 'disordered'.
59
as if from an embrace. And she walked and ran.
WordWie aus for comparison wie aus Umarmung means 'as though out of an embrace', with aus plus dative, Umarmung, marking origin. The sentence then shifts to two simple past verbs, ging and lief, 'walked' and 'ran', both from sie, 'she'.
60
But at noon, in the heaviest hour,
GrammarAm plus dative for time Am Mittag, 'at noon', uses an, contracted to am, with the dative to mark a point in time. aber, 'but', here functions as an adverb rather than a conjunction. in der schwersten Stunde is the superlative of schwer, 'heavy', 'in the heaviest hour'.
61
the sea heaved up once more and flung
GrammarSeparable reflexive verb sich aufheben, 'to heave up, to rise up', is separable and reflexive: sich stays in place while auf moves to the end, hob sich das Meer noch einmal auf. hob is the strong past of heben, 'to lift'. und warf begins a new clause with the same subject.
62
a dolphin onto that same place.
GrammarAn plus accusative for onto an jene selbe Stelle, 'onto that same place', uses an with the accusative because it marks motion onto a surface. jene, 'that', and selbe, 'same', both agree with the feminine accusative noun Stelle.
63
Dead, red and open.
WordThree predicate adjectives in a row Tot, rot und offen, 'dead, red and open', are three predicate adjectives with no verb stated, continuing the sentence before. Predicate adjectives in German never take endings, so all three stand in their bare form.

The particulars

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