German · New Poems: The Other Part

Leichenwäsche

Washing the Corpse

22 lines · 18 notes

Tap a line to open its words. The mark beside it plays it.

1
They had grown used to him. But when
Sietheysie · pronoun, nominative, pluraldepends on hatten
hattenhadhaben · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, third-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
sich(themselves)sich · pronoun, accusative, plural, reflexivedepends on gewöhnt
sich an etwas gewöhnen is an idiom meaning "to get used to something."
antoan · prepositiondepends on gewöhnt
ihnhimihn · pronoun, accusative, masculine, singulardepends on an
gewöhntgrown usedgewöhnen · verb, participledepends on hatten
Dochbutdoch · conjunctiondepends on als
alswhenals · subordinating conjunctionhead of the phrase
GrammarReflexive verb sich gewöhnen with an sich an etwas gewöhnen means 'to grow accustomed to something', and governs an plus accusative: an ihn means 'to him'. The perfect is hat sich gewöhnt; here it appears as hatten sich ... gewöhnt, 'had grown used to'.
2
the kitchen lamp was brought and burned unsteadily
3
in the dark draft, the stranger was
WordCompound noun for a draft Luftzug, from Luft, 'air', and Zug, 'draught', names a current of moving air, a draft. im dunkeln Luftzug means 'in the dark draft'; dunkeln is the old dative inflection of dunkel, 'dark'.
4
wholly unknown. They washed his neck,
WordNoun and adjective from the same word unbekannt means 'unknown, unfamiliar'; der Unbekannte is its nominalized form, 'the unknown man, the stranger', declined like an adjective. war der Unbekannte ganz unbekannt places the noun and adjective side by side: 'the stranger was wholly unknown'.
5
and since they knew nothing of his fate,
GrammarCausal da sends the verb to the end da here is a causal conjunction, 'since, because', not the adverb 'there', and it sends the verb to the end of the clause: da sie nichts ... wußten. wußten is the simple past of wissen, 'to know', printed with the old ß, modern wussten.
6
they lied a different one together,
GrammarSeparable verb for making up a lie zusammenlügen means 'to make up by lying, to cobble together a lie'. It is separable: in the simple past the prefix splits to the end, logen sie ... zusamm, with zusamm a clipped form of zusammen. logen is the past of lügen, 'to lie'.
7
washing all the while. One of them had to cough
GrammarBare present participle as adverbial waschend is the present participle of waschen, 'to wash', used adverbially here to mean 'while washing'. fortwährend means 'continually, ceaselessly'. German freely hangs such a bare participle off the main clause to show an action running alongside.
8
and meanwhile let the heavy vinegar sponge
WordCompound noun for a vinegar sponge Essigschwamm joins Essig, 'vinegar', and Schwamm, 'sponge'. Vinegar was used to wash and disinfect a corpse. schwer, 'heavy', describes the sponge as sodden.
9
rest on the face. Then there came a pause
10
for the second one too. From the stiff brush
11
the drops knocked; while his ghastly,
WordElevated adjective for ghastly graus, here inflected grause, is an elevated, poetic word for 'gruesome, ghastly', related to grausig and Grauen, 'dread'. It modifies Hand across the line break: seine grause ... Hand means 'his ghastly hand'.
12
cramped hand wanted to prove to the whole house
GrammarDative object of beweisen beweisen, 'to prove', takes a dative for the person shown something: dem ganzen Hause means 'to the whole household'. The -e on Hause is an old dative ending, now archaic or poetic.
13
that he no longer thirsted.
GrammarImpersonal verb in reported speech dürsten is impersonal with an accusative person: ihn dürstet means 'he is thirsty', literally 'it thirsts him'. dürste is Konjunktiv I, present subjunctive, used in reported speech after beweisen, daß, 'to prove that'.
14
And he proved it. As if abashed, they took
WordAdjective distinct from its verb twin As an adjective, betreten means 'embarrassed, abashed, disconcerted', distinct from the verb betreten, 'to step on'. wie betreten means 'as though abashed', describing how the women resumed their work.
15
the work up faster now, with one short cough,
WordNoun for a single cough Huster names one single cough, the act itself, as against Husten, coughing in general. mit einem kurzen Huster means 'with one short cough', echoing the cough that first interrupted the washing.
16
so that on the wallpaper
GrammarSeparable verb aufnehmen split by lines die Arbeit aufnehmen means 'to take up, to resume the work'. aufnehmen is separable, and in the simple past its prefix auf lands at the end of the clause, here stretched across two lines: nahmen ... die Arbeit auf. so daß then opens a result clause meaning 'so that'.
17
their crooked shadow, in the silent pattern,
18
writhed and rolled as in a net,
GrammarTwo reflexive verbs sharing one sich sich winden, 'to twist, writhe', past wand, and sich wälzen, 'to roll, wallow', past wälzte, share the one reflexive sich. The subject is ihr krummer Schatten, 'their crooked shadow', from the line before.
19
until the washers came to an end.
GrammarPresent participle turned into a noun die Waschenden is the present participle of waschen turned into a noun, 'the washing ones, the washers', declined like an adjective. bis daß means 'until', an older doubled form of modern bis. zu Ende kommen means 'to come to an end, to finish'.
20
The night in the curtainless window frame
WordCompound adjective with -los vorhanglos joins Vorhang, 'curtain', with the suffix -los, 'without', giving 'curtainless'. Fensterrahmen means 'window frame'. im vorhanglosen Fensterrahmen means 'in the curtainless window frame'.
21
was pitiless. And one without a name
WordCompound adjective with -los rücksichtslos joins Rücksicht, 'consideration, regard for others', with -los, 'without', giving 'ruthless, without regard'. Said of the night, it means 'pitiless'. einer ohne Namen means 'one without a name'.
22
lay there bare and clean, and laid down laws.
WordFixed phrase for laying down laws bar means 'bare, naked'; reinlich means 'clean, tidy'. Gesetze geben, literally 'to give laws', is a fixed phrase meaning 'to lay down the law, to dictate terms'.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
The app: The same text on your phone, your place kept, the audio offline. The first poems free, the rest $4.99.
App Store Google Play
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents