German · New Poems

L'Ange du Méridien

The Angel of the Sundial

14 lines · 14 notes

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1
In the storm that, around the strong cathedral,
Imin thein · prepositionhead of the phrase
SturmstormSturm · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on Im
derthatder · pronoun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of stürzt (s1-l2)
umaroundum · prepositiondepends on stürzt (s1-l2)
dietheder · determiner, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on Kathedrale
starkestrongstark · adjective, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on Kathedrale
KathedralecathedralKathedrale · noun, accusative, feminine, singulardepends on um
GrammarDative after a location Im is the contraction of in dem, the dative of der Sturm, 'the storm'. After in, the dative answers 'where', a static location, rather than the accusative 'where to'. Im Sturm means 'in the storm'.
2
like a denier, hurls itself down, one who thinks and thinks,
WordOne who says no Verneinen means 'to negate, to deny, to say no'; the agent noun der Verneiner means 'the one who denies, the denier'. Der denkt und denkt means 'who thinks and thinks'.
3
one feels oneself, more tenderly, all at once
WordAll at once, suddenly Mit einem Male is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'suddenly, all at once', literally 'with one time'. Mal here is the old neuter noun for an instance or moment. Sich fühlen means 'to feel oneself'.
4
turned toward you by your smile:
GrammarSeparable verb hinlenken Hinlenken, 'to direct, to steer toward', is separable; its past participle, hingelenkt, ends the clause in a passive construction, man wird … hingelenkt, 'one is steered toward'. The prefix hin marks motion away from the speaker, toward the person addressed.
5
smiling angel, feeling figure,
GrammarPresent participles used as adjectives Lächelnd, 'smiling', and fühlend, 'feeling', are present participles, formed by adding -d to the infinitive and then given adjective endings to agree with their nouns, masculine Engel and feminine Figur.
6
with a mouth made out of a hundred mouths:
WordAn old plural of Mund Der Mund, 'the mouth', most often forms its plural as Münder. Munden is an older, dialectal plural, kept here for the dative plural -n ending after aus: aus hundert Munden, 'out of a hundred mouths'.
7
do you not notice at all how, from you, our hours
WordTo perceive, become aware Gewahren is a literary verb meaning 'to perceive, to become aware of, to notice'. Gewahrst du gar nicht means 'do you not notice at all'. The question continues into the following line.
GrammarA dative marking separation Dir is the dative of du. With abgleiten, 'to slide off', in the next line, it works as a dative of separation: dir … abgleiten means 'slide away from you'. German uses the bare dative here, not a preposition, to mark the person something slips away from.
8
slip away from the full sundial,
9
on which the day's whole number, all at once,
GrammarGenitive placed before its noun Des Tages is the genitive of der Tag, 'the day', placed before the noun it modifies: des Tages ganze Zahl means 'the day's whole number, the entire count of the day'. Ordinary German would instead say die ganze Zahl des Tages.
10
equally real, stands in deep equilibrium,
WordBalance, with an old dative ending Das Gleichgewicht, 'equilibrium, balance', is literally 'equal weight'. In tiefem Gleichgewichte carries the archaic dative -e ending on Gleichgewichte, a poetic form no longer used in modern German.
11
as though all the hours were ripe and rich?
GrammarUnreal comparison with als Als plus the subjunctive wären, Konjunktiv II of sein, means 'as though', introducing a hypothesis. In this inverted form, als needs no ob and sends the verb wären directly into second position after it.
12
What do you know, stone one, of our being?
WordAn adjective used as a name Steinern means 'made of stone, stony'. Capitalized and given a noun ending, Steinerner becomes a form of address, 'you stone one'. German freely turns adjectives into nouns this way.
13
and do you hold, with a still more blessed face,
GrammarA comparative in the dative Selig means 'blessed, blissful'; seliger is its comparative, 'more blessed', and noch seliger means 'still more blessed'. The dative ending after mit contracts to seligerm, for seligerem, agreeing with Gesichte, itself an old dative -e form of das Gesicht.
14
perhaps the tablet out into the night?
GrammarMotion into, reinforced In die Nacht takes the accusative, marking motion toward, and the trailing hinein, 'into, in toward', reinforces the direction: in die Nacht hinein means 'right on into the night'. The verb is halten, 'to hold'.

The particulars

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