# Magnifikat · Magnificat

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/magnifikat. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/magnifikat.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Sie kam den Hang herauf, schon schwer, fast ohne  
She came up the slope, already heavy, almost past
> Heavy meaning with child: Schwer means 'heavy', but of a pregnant woman it is the ordinary German way of saying 'far along, heavily pregnant'. Rilke uses only this plain adjective, without the word 'pregnant' itself.
> Accusative of path: Der Hang, 'the slope', takes the accusative den Hang because it names the stretch of ground covered by motion, not a fixed place. Herauf, 'up toward here', follows and completes the direction.

**2** an Trost zu glauben, Hoffnung oder Rat;  
believing in comfort, hope, or counsel;
> Believing in with the accusative: 'To believe in something' in German is an etwas glauben, with an governing the accusative: an Trost, 'in comfort'. The phrase continues fast ohne ... zu glauben from the line before, an ohne ... zu plus infinitive construction split across the line break.

**3** doch da die hohe tragende Matrone  
yet when the tall, child-bearing matron
> Da meaning when: Here da is the temporal conjunction 'when, at the moment that', not the adverb 'there'. It opens a subordinate clause, sending the verb entgegentrat to the end of the next line. Doch means 'yet, but.'
> A participle for bearing a child: Tragend is the present participle of tragen, 'to carry, bear'. Of a woman it means 'with child, pregnant'. Die hohe tragende Matrone describes Elizabeth, herself far along.

**4** ihr ernst und stolz entgegentrat  
stepped grave and proud to meet her
> A separable verb: Entgegentreten, 'to step toward, confront, meet', is separable: entgegen plus treten. The dative ihr, 'to her', names who is stepped toward. Because the clause is subordinate, opened by da, the verb stays whole at the clause's end.


**5** und alles wußte ohne ihr Vertrauen,  
and knew it all without her telling,
> Old spelling of 'wusste': Wußte is the simple past of wissen, 'to know'. Rilke writes it with ß, the pre-1996 spelling; after a short vowel modern German writes wusste. The text keeps his original spelling.
> A noun for confiding: Das Vertrauen is 'trust'; 'to confide in someone' is sich jemandem anvertrauen. Ohne ihr Vertrauen means 'without her confiding it, without being told'.

**6** da war sie plötzlich an ihr ausgeruht;  
she was at once at rest on her;
> A participle for a state reached: Ausgeruht comes from the separable verb sich ausruhen, 'to rest, recover'. War ... ausgeruht reads as a state reached, 'had come to rest', rather than a simple past action. An ihr means 'on, against her.'

**7** vorsichtig hielten sich die vollen Frauen,  
warily the full women held each other,
> Full meaning late in pregnancy: Voll means 'full'. Of these two pregnant women it carries the rounded fullness of late pregnancy: 'the full women'. Sich halten here is reciprocal, 'held one another.'

**8** bis daß die junge sprach: Mir ist zumut,  
until the young one spoke: I feel within me,
> An older form of until: Bis daß, 'until', is a fuller, older form of plain bis; daß is the pre-1996 spelling of dass. It introduces a clause that sends its verb, sprach, 'spoke', to the end.
> An impersonal idiom of feeling: The idiom mir ist (so) zumute means 'I feel a certain way inside'. Rilke uses the shorter form zumut. It is impersonal, literally 'to me it is in the mood', and opens the song that follows.


**9** als wär ich, Liebe, von nun an für immer.  
as if I were, dear one, from now on forever.
> Unreal comparison: Als plus the subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) sets up an unreal comparison, 'as though'. Wär is the contracted subjunctive of sein, full form wäre. After als the verb comes first: als wär ich, 'as though I were.'
> As a term of address: Die Liebe means 'love', but set off in commas and addressed to the matron, it is a term of address: 'dear one, love.' It marks the words as spoken intimately to Elizabeth.

**10** Gott schüttet in der Reichen Eitelkeit  
God pours into the vanity of the rich
> Genitive of an adjectival noun: Die Reichen, 'the rich', is an adjective used as a noun; its genitive plural is der Reichen, 'of the rich'. In der Reichen Eitelkeit means 'into the vanity of the rich.'

**11** fast ohne hinzusehen ihren Schimmer;  
their glitter almost without a glance;
> A separable verb with 'zu': Hinsehen, 'to look toward, glance at', is separable, so the infinitival zu sits inside: hinzusehen. Ohne ... zu plus infinitive means 'without doing something': fast ohne hinzusehen, 'scarcely with a glance.'

**12** doch sorgsam sucht er sich ein Frauenzimmer  
yet carefully he seeks himself a woman
> An old word for a woman: Historically das Frauenzimmer was a plain or respectful word for a woman; Rilke uses this older sense, not its modern dismissive one. Sucht er sich, 'seeks for himself', uses a dative reflexive sich.

**13** und füllt sie an mit seiner fernsten Zeit.  
and fills her up with his most distant time.
> A separable verb: Anfüllen, 'to fill up', splits: füllt sie an, 'fills her up', with the prefix an landing at the clause's end. Mit seiner fernsten Zeit, 'with his most distant time', uses mit plus dative; fernsten is the superlative of fern, 'far.'


**14** Daß er mich fand. Bedenk nur; und Befehle  
That he found me. Only think; and commands
> An exclamation on its own: A daß-clause usually depends on a main clause, but here Daß er mich fand stands alone as an exclamation, 'That he found me!' The verb fand, simple past of finden, still sits at the clause's end, as subordinate word order requires.

**15** um meinetwillen gab von Stern zu Stern–.  
gave for my sake from star to star–.
> A frame for someone's sake: The fixed frame um ... willen, 'for the sake of', takes special pronoun forms: um meinetwillen means 'for my sake'. The sentence continues Befehle from the line before: commands given 'for my sake, from star to star.'

**16** Verherrliche und hebe, meine Seele,  
Glorify and lift up, my soul,
> Two imperatives to the soul: Verherrliche, 'glorify', from verherrlichen, and hebe, 'lift up', from heben, are both imperatives addressed to meine Seele, 'my soul'. Their shared object, den Herrn, is held back to the next line.

**17** so hoch du kannst: den Herrn.  
as high as you can: the Lord.
> The held-back object: Der Herr, 'the Lord', becomes den Herrn in the accusative, adding -n because Herr is a weak masculine noun. It is suspended to the very last words of the poem, the object of verherrliche and hebe from the lines before.

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Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.