German · New Poems: The Other Part

Jeremias

Jeremiah

18 lines · 18 notes

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1
Once I was soft as early wheat,
EinmalOnceeinmal · adverbdepends on war
warwassein · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, first-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
ichIich · pronoun, nominative, singulardepends on war
weichsoftweich · adjective, uninflected, predicatedepends on war
wieaswie · prepositiondepends on Weizen
früherearlyfrüh · adjective, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Weizen
WeizenwheatWeizen · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on wie
WordAdjective früher, early früher, 'early', modifies Weizen, 'wheat', both nominative masculine singular. weich wie früher Weizen means 'soft as early wheat', comparing the speaker's former softness to young grain not yet hardened.
2
but you, you raging one, you had the power
WordAdjective as noun, Rasender Rasender is the present participle rasend, 'raging', used as a noun by capitalizing it: 'raging one'. du Rasender directly addresses this figure. It declines like an adjective, here nominative masculine singular.
3
to inflame the heart I held out to you,
GrammarParticiple hingehaltne hingehaltne is a shortened form of hingehalten, the past participle of hinhalten, 'to hold out, to extend'. It modifies Herz, 'heart', both accusative neuter: das hingehaltne Herz, 'the heart held out'. The final e is dropped for the meter.
4
so that now it boils like a lion's.
GrammarGenitive eines Löwen eines Löwen is the genitive singular of ein Löwe, 'a lion', meaning 'a lion's'. wie eines Löwen kocht compares the heart's boiling to a lion's, with the noun after it, Herz, left unstated.
5
What a mouth you laid upon me,
WordVerb zumuten, to impose zumuten means 'to expect of someone, to impose on someone', often something hard or unwelcome. zugemutet is its past participle. Welchen Mund hast du mir zugemutet means 'what a mouth you imposed on me'.
6
back then, when I was almost a boy:
GrammarSubordinating conjunction da da here means 'when', introducing a subordinate time clause, not the more common 'there' or 'since'. da ich fast ein Knabe war means 'when I was nearly a boy'. fast means 'nearly'.
7
a wound it became: now there bleeds
GrammarPreterite wurde, became wurde is the preterite of werden, 'to become'. eine Wunde wurde er means 'he became a wound', with the predicate noun eine Wunde placed first for emphasis. er refers back to Mund, 'mouth', from the line before.
8
from it year of disaster upon year of disaster.
WordRepetition with um Unglücksjahr um Unglücksjahr, 'year of disaster upon year of disaster', repeats the noun with um, 'upon', to show years piling one after another. The first Unglücksjahr is nominative, the second accusative, both governed by the sentence around them.
9
Daily I rang out with new afflictions,
WordPreterite tönte, rang out tönte is the preterite of tönen, 'to sound, to ring out'. It takes von here to mean 'with': tönte ich von neuen Nöten means 'I rang out with new afflictions'. Nöten is the dative plural of Not, 'affliction, distress'.
10
which you, insatiable one, devised,
WordPreterite ersannst, devised ersannst is the second person singular preterite of ersinnen, 'to devise, to contrive'. die du ... ersannst means 'which you devised', with die as the accusative relative pronoun referring to the afflictions named in the line before.
11
and they could not kill the mouth in me;
GrammarDative of interest, mir mir here is a dative of interest, marking whose mouth is meant: sie konnten mir den Mund nicht töten, literally 'they could not kill the mouth to me', meaning 'my mouth'. Mund is the direct accusative object of töten.
12
you see for yourself how you can still it,
GrammarSeparable verb zusehen zusehen, 'to see to something, to watch', is separable. sieh is the imperative of sehen, and zu, its detached prefix, sits at the end: sieh du zu, wie ... means 'see for yourself how ...'. wie introduces the clause it depends on.
13
when those we batter and destroy,
GrammarRelative die, first person die is an accusative relative pronoun referring to an unstated group, object of zerstoßen and zerstören, 'to batter' and 'to destroy'. wir, 'we', is the subject: die wir zerstoßen means 'those whom we batter'.
14
are first lost and strayed far off
WordParticiple fernverlaufen fernverlaufen is the past participle of a compound verb built from fern, 'far', and verlaufen, 'to stray, to go astray'. sind ... fernverlaufen, 'have strayed far off', pairs with verloren sind, 'are lost', both describing the same subject.
15
and have passed away in the peril:
WordParticiple vergangen vergangen is the past participle of vergehen, 'to pass away, to perish'. sind vergangen means 'have passed away', a perfect tense formed with sein because vergehen describes a change of state, not an action done to something.
16
for then, among the heaps of rubble,
WordCompound noun Trümmerhaufen Trümmerhaufen combines Trümmer, 'rubble, debris', and Haufen, 'heap, pile', meaning 'heaps of rubble'. It is dative plural here after in: in den Trümmerhaufen, 'among the heaps of rubble'.
17
hear my own voice again at last,
GrammarInfinitive wiederhören Wiederhören, 'to hear again', is an infinitive used here as a noun-like object of will, 'want': meine Stimme Wiederhören means 'to hear my own voice again'. wieder, 'again', is fused into the verb rather than kept separate.
18
which from the very first was a howling.
WordNominalized infinitive Heulen Heulen is the infinitive of heulen, 'to howl', used as a neuter noun meaning 'a howling'. ein Heulen war means 'was a howling'. Any German infinitive can be capitalized and used this way as a noun.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
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