German · New Poems

Kindheit

Childhood

18 lines · 18 notes

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1
It would be good to think much, so as
Esites · pronoun, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on wäre
wärewould besein · auxiliary verb, past, subjunctive, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
gutgoodgut · adverbdepends on wäre
vielmuchviel · adverbdepends on nachzudenken
nachzudenkento thinknachdenken · verb, infinitivedepends on wäre
umso asum · subordinating conjunctiondepends on auszusagen
GrammarThe subjunctive of sein for a wish wäre is Subjunctive II of sein, 'to be', used for a hypothetical, wished-for situation: Es wäre gut means 'It would be good'. The impersonal es fills the subject slot; the real content follows in the infinitive clause viel nachzudenken.
Grammarum opens a purpose clause um here opens a purpose clause with um … zu plus infinitive, meaning 'in order to'. Rilke strands um at the end of the line and lets its infinitive, auszusagen, land in the next line: read um … etwas auszusagen across the break.
2
to say something of all that is so lost,
WordA syncopated participle used as a noun Verlornem is the past participle of verlieren, 'to lose', shortened from Verlorenem for the meter and capitalized as a neuter noun, 'that which is lost'. After von it takes the dative ending -em. aussagen means 'to state, to express'.
3
of those long childhood afternoons
GrammarDative plural after von jenen is the demonstrative jene, 'those', more distant and literary than diese. von governs the dative, so the whole phrase carries dative-plural endings: jenen langen … Nachmittagen, with Nachmittage taking its dative-plural -n.
4
that never so returned again—and why?
GrammarA separable verb in the simple past wiederkamen is the simple past of the separable verb wiederkommen, 'to come back, return'. In this relative clause the verb sits at the end and its parts close into one word: die … nie wiederkamen means 'that never came back'.
5
Still it admonishes us—: perhaps in a raining,
WordA stronger word than remind mahnen means 'to admonish, urge, remind insistently', stronger and more solemn than erinnern. The impersonal es, the lost childhood, is the subject; uns is the accusative object: Noch mahnt es uns means 'It still calls us to account'.
6
but we no longer know what it might mean;
WordAn idiom asking what something means was das soll is an idiom, literally 'what that is supposed to be', meaning 'what it means, what it is getting at'. The modal sollen here carries the sense of intention or significance, not obligation. nicht mehr means 'no longer'.
7
never again was life so full of meeting,
WordAn infinitive turned into a noun Begegnen is the infinitive begegnen, 'to meet, encounter', which normally takes a dative object, turned into a neuter noun, 'meeting'. war das Leben … so voll runs across the line break to von Begegnen, naming what life brimmed with.
8
of seeing-again and walking-onward,
WordTwo more infinitives turned nouns wiedersehen, 'to see again', becomes Wiedersehn, and weitergehen, 'to walk on', becomes Weitergehn, both with -en clipped to -n for the meter. Paired, they name a childhood of constant reunion and onward motion.
9
as then, when nothing befell us except
Grammarda meaning when, not there Here da is the older, literary conjunction meaning 'when, as', not 'there'. geschehen, 'to happen, befall', is impersonal and takes a dative for the one affected: da uns nichts geschah means 'when nothing happened to us'. als nur means 'except only'.
10
what befalls a thing and what befalls a beast:
GrammarDative objects of geschehen geschehen again takes a dative for the one something happens to: was einem Ding geschieht means 'what happens to a thing'. einem Tiere is the dative of das Tier, 'animal', with the older, optional dative -e ending kept for the rhyme with Ihre.
11
then we lived their life, as humankind does,
GrammarA nominalized possessive pronoun das Ihre is a nominalized possessive, 'their own, what belongs to them', here their own life or portion. Menschliches is the neuter adjective menschlich used as a noun, 'the human'. We lived proper to a thing and a beast, as the human lives its own.
12
and brimmed, up to the very edge, with form.
WordAn idiom for being completely full bis zum Rande, 'to the rim, to the brim', is an idiom for being filled completely; der Rand means 'edge, rim'. voll Figur means 'full of figure', of shaped, defined presence: the child fills entirely with its own outline.
13
And grew as solitary as a shepherd,
WordA participle marking becoming lonely vereinsamt is the past participle of vereinsamen, 'to grow lonely, become isolated', from einsam, 'lonely'; the ver- prefix marks the process. wurden … vereinsamt means 'grew solitary'. der Hirt is the shepherd, the image of one alone.
14
and so overburdened with great distances,
WordOverloaded with distance überladen means 'overloaded, overburdened', the past participle of überladen, 'to overload'. die Ferne, plural Fernen, means 'the distance, the far reaches'; the plural makes it 'great distances'. mit … überladen means 'loaded down with'.
15
and as if called and touched from far away,
WordTwo participles paired by sound berufen, from berufen, 'to call, summon', means 'called'; berührt, from berühren, 'to touch', means 'touched'. von weit means 'from far off'. The two participles describe the child as summoned and grazed by something distant.
16
and slowly, like a long new thread,
17
drawn into those sequences of images,
GrammarA separable verb governing in plus accusative eingeführt is the past participle of the separable verb einführen, 'to lead in, introduce, thread in'. It governs in plus the accusative for the direction: in jene Bilderfolgen eingeführt means 'led into those picture-sequences'.
18
in which to endure now bewilders us.
GrammarAn infinitive phrase as the subject The infinitive phrase zu dauern, 'to last, to endure', is itself the subject of verwirrt, 'confuses', with uns as its accusative object: 'to endure now bewilders us'. in welchen, dative plural, points back to jene Bilderfolgen.

The particulars

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