German · New Poems

Im Saal

In the Hall

15 lines · 15 notes

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1
How they are all about us, these gentlemen
Wiehowwie · adverbdepends on sind
sindaresein · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
sietheysie · pronoun, nominative, pluraldepends on sind
alleallalle · pronoun, nominative, pluraldepends on sind
umaboutum · prepositiondepends on sind
unsusuns · pronoun, accusative, pluraldepends on um
diesethesedieser · determiner, nominative, masculine, pluraldepends on Herrn
HerrngentlemenHerr · noun, nominative, masculine, pluraldepends on sind
GrammarExclamatory wie with verb second Here wie is not a question word but an exclamation, meaning 'how'. It pulls the finite verb sind into second position ahead of the subject sie. um uns means 'around us, about us'.
WordGentlemen and lords Herr means 'gentleman, lord, master'. The plural here, Herrn, is a contracted spelling of Herren. diese Herrn, 'these gentlemen', refers to the men pictured in the paintings on the wall.
2
in chamberlain's costumes and jabots,
WordA court dress Kammerherrentrachten is a compound of Kammerherr, 'chamberlain', a courtier of a prince's household, and Tracht, 'costume, traditional dress'. It names formal court attire. The plural -trachten matches the several differently dressed men in the portraits. A Jabot is the lace or ruffles worn at the throat of an eighteenth century shirt.
3
like a night around its order's star,
WordStar of an order An Ordensstern is the star shaped badge of a knightly or honorific order, worn pinned to the coat. eine Nacht, 'a night', is the comparison used for the dark clothing, which gathers um ihren Ordensstern, 'around its decoration'.
4
growing ever darker, without restraint,
GrammarGrowing darker, reflexive participle sich verdunkeln is a reflexive verb meaning 'to grow dark, to darken'. Its present participle verdunkelnd keeps the reflexive sich, so sich immer mehr verdunkelnd means 'growing ever darker'. The phrase modifies Nacht from the line above. rücksichtslos means 'ruthlessly, without consideration'.
5
and these ladies, delicate, fragile, yet large
GrammarThe word doch means yet doch here is the adversative 'yet, but, however'. The ladies are zart, 'delicate', and fragile, a French loanword Rilke keeps unmodernized, doch groß, 'yet large'. groß describes them because of the wide gowns named in the next line.
6
by their dresses, one hand in the lap,
GrammarDative of place im is the fused form of in dem, dative, marking position rather than motion. eine Hand im Schoß means 'one hand in the lap', resting there. der Schoß means 'lap', also 'womb' in higher registers.
7
small as a collar for the bichon at her side;
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how they are there around each one: around the reader,
GrammarUm takes the accusative The preposition um, 'around, about', always takes the accusative. jeden is the accusative of jeder, 'each one, everyone'. den Leser, 'the reader', is likewise accusative, repeating the same construction as um jeden.
9
around the beholder of these knick-knacks,
WordThe one who contemplates der Betrachter means 'the viewer, beholder, contemplator', from betrachten, 'to look at attentively'. Bibelots is a French loanword, plural, for ornamental trinkets, 'knick-knacks'. dieser Bibelots is genitive, 'of these trinkets'.
10
among which a good deal still belongs to them.
GrammarGehören takes the dative gehören, 'to belong to', governs the dative: the owner stands in the dative, not the accusative. ihnen, 'to them', is that dative, and manches, 'many a thing, a good deal', is the nominative subject. So manches gehört ihnen means 'a good deal belongs to them'. darunter means 'among them, among which'.
11
They let us, full of tact, undisturbed
GrammarLassen plus bare infinitive lassen, 'to let, to allow', takes a bare infinitive without zu, and that infinitive waits at the end of the next line: Sie lassen uns das Leben leben means 'they let us live our life'. uns is the accusative object, ungestört, 'undisturbed', is a predicate adjective, and voller Takt means 'full of tact'.
12
live our life, the way we understand it
WordA cognate object Noun and verb share a root: das Leben, 'life', is the object of leben, 'to live'. This figura etymologica means 'to live life, to live out one's life'. wie wir es begreifen means 'the way we understand it'.
13
and the way they do not understand it. They wanted to bloom,
GrammarWollen in the preterite wollten is the simple past of wollen, 'to want', and it governs the bare infinitive blühn, a poetic spelling of blühen, 'to bloom'. sie's contracts sie es, 'they it'. Sie wollten blühn means 'they wanted to bloom'.
14
and to bloom is to be beautiful; but we want to ripen,
GrammarInfinitive as subject and predicate Both sides of the sentence use bare infinitives as nouns: blühn ist schön sein means 'to bloom is to be beautiful'. German lets an infinitive stand as subject, 'to bloom', and as predicate, 'to be beautiful'. doch wir wollen reifen answers it, 'but we want to ripen'.
15
and that means to be dark and to strive.
WordTo take pains, to strive sich bemühen is a reflexive verb meaning 'to exert oneself, to take pains, to strive'. The infinitive bemühn, short for bemühen, keeps the reflexive sich. das heißt means 'that means'. dunkel sein und sich bemühn means 'being dark and striving'.

The particulars

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