German · New Poems

Mädchenklage

A Girl's Lament

19 lines · 19 notes

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

1
This inclination, in the years
DieseThisdieser · determiner, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Neigung
NeigunginclinationNeigung · noun, nominative, feminine, singularsubject of war (s1-l3)
ininin · prepositiondepends on Neigung
dentheder · determiner, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on Jahren
JahrenyearsJahr · noun, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on in
WordA leaning turned into a trait die Neigung comes from neigen, 'to incline, to bend', and literally means a leaning or slope. Used figuratively, as here, it means a tendency or inclination, the speaker's early pull toward being alone.
2
when we were all children,
GrammarA conjunction meaning when da here is a subordinating conjunction meaning 'when' or 'as', used to set a past time, not its more common senses 'there' or 'because'. Since it opens a subordinate clause, its verb, waren, is sent to the end.
3
to be much alone, was mild;
GrammarAn infinitive phrase as subject zu sein, 'to be', combines with viel allein, 'much alone', to form an infinitive phrase. That whole phrase acts as the subject of war mild, 'was mild'. German can use a full zu-infinitive clause the way English uses a gerund.
4
for others the time went by in quarrel,
GrammarDative marking who is affected andern is a dative plural meaning 'to others' or 'for others'. In andern ging die Zeit, the dative names the people time passed for. Streite is an older dative form of Streit, 'quarrel', its final -e kept for rhyme.
5
and one had one's own side,
GrammarThe impersonal pronoun one man means 'one', 'you', or 'people in general', and takes a third-person singular verb, here hatte. Its possessive form is sein-, so seine Seite means 'one's own side'. The poem later shifts from this general man to the personal ich.
6
one's nearness, one's distance,
WordA paired pair of opposites die Nähe means 'nearness, closeness' and die Weite means 'expanse, distance'. Both are abstract nouns built from the adjectives nah and weit. The poem lists them as things the self once possessed, alongside a path, an animal, an image.
7
a path, an animal, an image.
GrammarAccusative case shown by one noun Weg, Tier, and Bild are all accusative objects of hatte in the line before. Masculine einen Weg shows the accusative ending -en, while neuter ein Tier and ein Bild look the same as their nominative forms. Only the masculine form reveals the case here.
8
And I still thought that life
9
would never cease to grant
GrammarSeparable prefix splits off aufhören, 'to stop, to cease', is a separable verb. In a main clause its prefix auf splits from the stem and moves to the end, giving hörte … auf niemals. The pattern aufhören zu geben means 'to stop giving' or 'never cease to give'.
10
that one finds oneself within oneself.
WordA reflexive verb doubled sich besinnen means 'to reflect, to collect oneself, to come to one's senses'. The line doubles it as sich in sich besinnt, 'reflects itself within itself', turning the reflexive verb fully onto the self. daß is the older spelling of dass, 'that'.
11
Am I not, within myself, at my greatest?
GrammarSuperlative used as a noun im Größten uses the superlative of groß, 'great', as a noun after the dative preposition in, giving 'in the greatest'. Bin ich …? is an inverted question, formed by placing the verb before the subject.
12
Will what is mine no longer console me
GrammarA possessive standing alone as noun meines is the possessive mein used by itself as a neuter nominative noun, meaning 'what is mine' or 'my own'. It is the subject of will trösten, 'wants to console', while mich, 'me', is the accusative object. Will fronted at the start again marks an inverted question.
13
and understand me as it did when I was a child?
GrammarA comparison with the verb left out wie als Kind compresses 'as it did when I was a child'. wie introduces the comparison, and als Kind is a fixed phrase meaning 'as a child'. The verb verstehen, from the line before, carries over and is not repeated.
14
Suddenly I am as if cast out,
WordCast out, but only in comparison verstoßen is the past participle of verstoßen, 'to expel, to disown', used of someone driven from home or family. Preceded by wie, wie verstoßen presents this only as a comparison, not a literal claim.
15
and into something overgreat
WordThe prefix über- intensifies über-, 'over, beyond', intensifies groß, 'great', into übergroß, 'oversized, immense'. Used as a noun, ein Übergroßes means 'something immense'. The phrase zu einem Übergroßen depends on wird in the next line, giving 'becomes something immense'.
16
this loneliness becomes for me,
Grammarwerden zu plus a dative person werden zu etwas means 'to become, to turn into something'. Across two lines the clause reads diese Einsamkeit wird mir zu einem Übergroßen, 'this loneliness becomes, for me, something immense'. The dative mir marks the person the change affects.
17
when, standing upon the hills of my breasts,
GrammarA genitive placed ahead of its noun The ordinary order would be auf den Hügeln meiner Brüste, 'on the hills of my breasts'. Rilke instead fronts the genitive meiner Brüste before its noun Hügeln. auf takes the dative Hügeln here because it names a location, not a motion toward it.
18
my feeling cries out for wings
GrammarA present participle used adverbially stehend, 'standing', is the present participle of stehen, formed by adding -d to the infinitive. Used adverbially, it describes the posture behind mein Gefühl, the feeling named in the same line.
GrammarThe idiom cry out for schreien nach etwas means 'to cry out for something', and nach takes the dative. That gives nach Flügeln, 'for wings', and nach einem Ende in the next line. The main verb, schreit, does not arrive until the end of that next line.
19
or for an ending.
WordAn indefinite ending left open das Ende means 'the end'. The indefinite form einem Ende, 'an ending', governed by nach from the line before, does not say what kind of ending is meant. The feeling cries für Flügeln oder einem Ende, 'for wings or for an ending'.

The particulars

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