German · New Poems: The Other Part

Lied vom Meer

Song of the Sea

14 lines · 14 notes

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1
Age-old blowing from the sea,
Uraltesage-olduralt · adjective, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Wehn
WehnblowingWehn · noun, nominative, neuter, singularhead of the phrase
vomfromvon · prepositiondepends on Wehn
MeerseaMeer · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on vom
WordUr- intensifies old uralt welds the intensifying prefix ur-, 'original, primal', onto alt, 'old': not merely old but 'age-old, immemorial'. das Wehn is a noun made from wehen, 'to blow', so uraltes Wehn vom Meer means 'age-old blowing off the sea'.
2
sea-wind by night:
WordCompound noun, fused nouns Meer, 'sea', plus Wind, 'wind', gives Meerwind, 'sea-wind'. German fuses nouns into one word, the last element carrying the gender, here masculine der Wind. bei Nacht is the fixed phrase 'by night, at night'.
3
you come to no one;
GrammarSeparable verb split by dative phrase herkommen, 'to come here, toward the speaker', is separable: the prefix her- is flung to the line's end, du kommst her. zu keinem pairs zu, 'to', with keiner, 'no one'.
4
if someone lies awake,
GrammarWenn sends its verb to the end wenn, 'if, when', is a subordinating conjunction, so its verb wacht goes to the clause's end. einer is the indefinite pronoun 'someone'. wachen means 'to be awake, to lie awake', not wecken, 'to wake someone'.
5
then he must see how he
GrammarSo inverts subject and verb so opens the main clause answering the wenn-clause, 'if someone lies awake, then'. Because so fills the first slot, subject and verb invert, so muß er sehn, 'then he must see'. sehn is the clipped sehen.
6
outlasts you:
GrammarInseparable verb, fused prefix überstehen, 'to withstand, survive, get through', keeps its prefix über- fused even at the clause's end, wie er dich übersteht, 'how he gets through you'. The accusative dich, 'you', is the wind itself.
7
age-old blowing from the sea,
GrammarThe opening line returns Line one returns here word for word, a refrain folding the poem back on itself. das Wehn, neuter, takes the neuter ending -es, uraltes Wehn; vom fuses von dem, 'from the'. The relative clause welches weht grows out of it next.
8
which blows
GrammarRelative pronoun, verb-final welches is a relative pronoun, the more literary alternative to das, agreeing with neuter das Wehn, meaning 'which'. As a relative clause its verb weht, from wehen, 'to blow', falls at the end.
9
only as if for primal rock,
GrammarWie meaning as if wie here carries the sense 'as though', and für, 'for', always takes the accusative, für Urgestein, 'for primal rock'. Urgestein joins ur- to Gestein, 'rock, stone', naming the oldest bedrock of the earth.
10
sheer space
WordLauter means nothing but lauter here is not the comparative of laut, 'loud'. It is the invariable word lauter, meaning 'nothing but, pure, sheer'. lauter Raum means 'sheer space, nothing but space', in apposition to Wehn from an earlier line.
11
tearing in from far away.
GrammarParticiple plus directional adverb reißend is the present participle of reißen, 'to tear, rush', used adverbially, 'tearing'. herein joins her-, toward the speaker, with -ein, 'inward', meaning 'in, inward'. von weit means 'from far off'.
12
Oh, how a drifting fig tree
GrammarWie opens the clause, verb first Because wie, 'how', opens this clause, the verb precedes its subject, fühlt ein treibender Feigenbaum. The accusative dich, 'you', is again the wind, the object felt. The subject runs on into the next line.
13
feels you,
WordOne verb with two meanings Feigenbaum joins Feige, 'fig', and Baum, 'tree': 'fig tree'. treibend is the present participle of treiben, a verb meaning both 'to drive, to drift' and, of a plant, 'to sprout, put forth shoots'. Both senses sound together here.
14
high up in the moonlight.
WordAdverb plus a compound noun oben is the adverb 'up there, above'. Mondschein joins Mond, 'moon', and Schein, 'shine', giving 'moonlight'; im fuses in dem, 'in the', with the dative for rest. oben im Mondschein means 'high up in the moonlight'.

The particulars

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