German · New Poems: The Other Part

Leda

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1
When the god, in his urgency, stepped into it,
Alswhenals · subordinating conjunctiondepends on betrat
ihniter · pronoun, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on betrat
dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Gott
GottgodGott · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of betrat
ininin · prepositiondepends on betrat
seinerhissein · determiner, dative, feminine, singulardepends on Not
NoturgencyNot · noun, dative, feminine, singulardepends on in
betratstepped intobetreten · verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
GrammarPrefix verb taking a direct object betrat is the preterite of betreten, 'to step into, enter'. The prefix be- makes treten, 'to tread', transitive, so it takes a direct accusative object rather than a preposition: here ihn, 'it', referring to the swan-form.
WordNoun for dire urgency Not means 'distress, need, dire urgency', a pressing compulsion rather than mere wish. in seiner Not, dative after in, means 'in his urgency', a fixed phrase describing the state driving the god's action.
2
he was almost startled to find the rush of feathers so beautiful;
GrammarStrong verb, intransitive use erschrak is the preterite of erschrecken, 'to be frightened, take fright', a strong verb: erschrecken, erschrak, erschrocken. Used intransitively it means the subject itself is startled, 'he took fright'. fast, 'nearly', softens the claim.
WordNoun for a surge Schwall means 'surge, gush, swelling rush', related to schwellen, 'to swell'. It is accusative object of finden: den Schwall so schön zu finden, 'to find the rush so beautiful', naming the swan's plumage as felt from inside.
3
wholly bewildered, he let himself vanish into it.
GrammarSich lassen plus infinitive lassen with reflexive sich and a bare infinitive means 'to let oneself do something': er ließ sich verschwinden, 'he let himself vanish'. ließ is the preterite of lassen. in ihm is dative, marking rest within the swan-form rather than motion into it.
4
But already his deceit was carrying him to the deed,
WordNoun for deceit Betrug means 'deception, fraud, deceit', naming the god's disguise. It is nominative subject of trug, the preterite of tragen, 'to carry': trug ihn sein Betrug, 'his deceit carried him'. zur Tat means 'to the deed', dative after zu.
5
before he had yet tested the feelings
GrammarConjunction sends verb to the end bevor, 'before', is a subordinating conjunction, so its clause's verb goes to the end: here prüfte, which falls at the start of the following line. The clause bevor er ... prüfte spans the stanza break: 'before he tested'.
GrammarSein used as a noun das Sein is the infinitive sein, 'to be', used as a neuter noun meaning 'being, existence'. des unerprobten Seins is its genitive, 'of the untried being', depending on Gefühle in the next line. unerprobt means 'untested, untried'.
6
of his untried being. And she, laid open,
GrammarParticiple used as a noun aufgetan is the past participle of the separable verb auftun, 'to open, throw open', from auf- plus tun. Capitalized with the article, die Aufgetane becomes a feminine noun, 'the one laid open', naming Leda by this participle.
7
already knew the one coming, there in the swan,
GrammarPresent participle used as a noun kommend, 'coming', is the present participle of kommen, declined here as a noun: der Kommende, 'the one who comes'. Accusative den Kommenden is object of erkannte, 'knew'. Schwane is an older dative form of Schwan, 'swan'.
8
and already knew: he was asking for one thing,
GrammarBitten um plus accusative bitten um etwas means 'to ask, beg for something', with the thing requested marked by um plus accusative. bat is the preterite of bitten. eins, 'one thing', stands as a neuter pronoun object of um. Old spelling wußte matches modern wusste.
9
that she, confounded in her resistance,
GrammarNeuter relative pronoun das is a relative pronoun, 'which, that', referring back to eins, the one thing asked for. It opens a relative clause whose verb, verbergen konnte, falls at the end of the following line, so the clause spans the line break.
10
could no longer hide. He came down,
GrammarSeparable prefix goes last niederkommen, 'to come down', is a separable verb. In a finite clause the prefix nieder- breaks off and moves to the end: Er kam ... nieder means 'he came down'. verbergen means 'to hide, to conceal'.
11
and, necking through the ever-weakening hand,
WordRare verb built from Hals halsend is the present participle of halsen, a rare verb coined from Hals, 'neck', meaning to press or wind the neck. It works adverbially, describing how the subject pushes durch die Hand, through the hand. immer schwächre is the contracted comparative of schwach, 'weak'.
12
the god let himself loose into his beloved.
GrammarSeparable verb with reflexive loslassen, 'to let go, to release', is separable, and with the reflexive sich it means 'to let oneself go'. The prefix los- stands at the end: ließ sich der Gott ... los means 'the god let himself loose'. in die Geliebte is accusative, marking motion into her.
13
Only then, in bliss, did he feel his plumage
GrammarErst means only erst here means 'only, not until' rather than 'first', so Dann erst empfand er means 'only then did he feel'. Because Dann erst opens the clause, the finite verb empfand, 'felt', comes before the subject er, the normal inversion when something other than the subject leads.
WordCollective noun for feathers Gefieder is the collective noun for a bird's plumage, all its feathers together. The ge-...-er pattern builds such collectives from a base noun, here Feder, 'feather'. It stands as the accusative object of empfand, 'felt'.
14
and truly became swan in her lap.
GrammarWerden with a bare noun werden, 'to become', links a subject to a predicate noun with no article: wurde ... Schwan means 'became swan'. wurde is its simple past. wirklich, 'really, truly', modifies wurde. in ihrem Schoß is dative, 'in her lap', naming the place.

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