German · New Poems: The Other Part

Nächtliche Fahrt

Night Drive

25 lines · 31 notes

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1
Back then, when we, with the sleek trotters
Damalsback thendamals · adverbdepends on fuhren (line 6)
alswhenals · subordinating conjunctiondepends on fuhren (line 6), introduces the clause
wirwewir · pronoun, nominative, pluralsubject of fuhren (line 6)
mitwithmit · prepositiondepends on fuhren (line 6)
dentheder · determiner, dative, masculine, pluraldepends on Trabern
glattensleekglatt · adjective, dative, masculine, pluraldepends on Trabern
TraberntrottersTraber · noun, dative, masculine, pluraldepends on mit
GrammarAdverb and conjunction open the poem damals means 'then, back then'; the subordinating conjunction als introduces a single completed event in the past, 'when'. The whole poem hangs on this opening clause, whose main verb does not arrive until much later.
WordA word for trotting horses A Traber is a trotting horse, bred and driven to trot rather than gallop, pulling a light carriage. mit den glatten Trabern means 'with the sleek trotters', dative plural after mit, which always takes the dative.
2
(black ones, from the Orlov stud)—,
WordA word for a horse-breeding farm Gestüt means 'stud, stud farm', an establishment that breeds horses. aus dem Orloffschen Gestüt means 'from the Orlov stud', the dative after aus, 'out of, from'.
3
while behind tall candelabra
GrammarSubordinator sends verb far ahead The subordinating conjunction während, 'while', opens a parallel clause and sends its verb to the very end, here lagen in the next line. Read the whole span as one unit: 'while behind tall candelabra the city's night-fronts lay'.
4
the city's night-fronts lay, made early,
WordA coined three-part compound Stadtnachtfronten stacks Stadt, 'city', Nacht, 'night', and Fronten, 'building fronts', into one word, 'the night-time fronts of the city'. German lets a poet build such a noun on the spot; English needs a phrase to unpack it.
WordAn invented past participle angefrüht is a Rilke invention, a past participle built as though from a verb anfrühen, from früh, 'early': the fronts have been 'made early, brought on too soon', a pale light of a northern white night.
5
mute and answering to no hour anymore—,
GrammarGemäß governs the dative gemäß, 'in accordance with, conforming to', takes the dative and usually follows its noun, keiner Stunde gemäß, 'conforming to no hour'. The façades belong to no hour of the clock, a sign that time is breaking down.
6
we drove, no: passed away or flew
GrammarThe verb the opening clause waited for fuhren, 'we drove', is finally the finite verb of the als wir clause begun in line one; the long parenthesis is over. The poet then corrects himself with nein, 'no', replacing 'drove' with vergingen oder flogen, 'passed away or flew'.
WordA verb for passing away vergehen means 'to pass, elapse, fade, perish'; its past tense is vergingen. The word recurs through the poem, describing statues and finally the city itself, making 'passing away' the drive's true subject.
7
and rounded the looming palaces
WordA verb for rounding a corner biegen means 'to bend, turn'; with um it means 'to round a corner or building'. Its past tense is bogen. lastend, 'looming', is the present participle of lasten, 'to weigh down'.
8
into the wind off the Neva quays,
WordA noun made from a verb das Wehn, also spelled Wehen, is a noun made from wehen, 'to blow, waft': 'the blowing, the breath of wind'. in das Wehn der Newa-Quais means 'into the wind off the Neva quays', the embankments of St Petersburg.
9
swept away through the waking night-ness,
WordOne participle, two meanings hingerissen is the past participle of the separable verb hinreißen, literally 'to sweep away', figuratively 'to enrapture, carry away'. Both senses apply, the riders physically swept along and inwardly enraptured by the night.
WordA coined verbal noun Rilke turns the noun Nacht, 'night', into a verbal noun, das Nachten, 'the nighting', night treated as an ongoing process rather than a thing. das wache Nachten means 'the waking nighting', a night that is somehow alert.
10
that has neither sky nor earth,—
GrammarDoubled nicht for neither nor Doubled nicht works like English 'neither nor', nicht Himmel und nicht Erde, 'neither sky nor earth'. The relative clause das hat refers back to das Nachten, a night holding neither heaven above nor ground below.
11
as the urging thing from unwatched
GrammarParticiple turned into a noun drängend, 'pressing, urging', is a present participle used here as a neuter noun, das Drängende, 'the urging thing'. German freely nominalizes participles this way; als das Drängende aufstieg means 'as the urging thing rose up'.
12
gardens, fermenting, up from the Letny Sad
WordGären means to ferment gärend is the present participle of gären, 'to ferment, seethe, work'. The pairing Gärten gärend, 'gardens fermenting', is a deliberate echo between the two words, letting the verb seem to grow out of the noun.
13
rose up, while its stone figures
GrammarPast tense of a separable verb aufstieg is the past tense of the separable verb aufsteigen, 'to rise, climb, ascend'. In this subordinate als-clause the whole verb stands together at the end, completing als das Drängende aufstieg, 'as the urging thing rose up'.
14
dwindling, with powerless contours,
WordA verb for fading away schwindend is the present participle of schwinden, 'to dwindle, vanish, waste away'. mit ohnmächtigen Konturen means 'with powerless contours': ohnmächtig means both 'unconscious, fainting' and 'powerless'.
15
passed away behind us, as we drove—:
GrammarWie used to mean while Here wie works temporally, 'as, while', so wie wir fuhren means 'as we drove'. The verb fuhren again closes its clause. The colon and dash open the way to the poem's long-delayed main statement.
16
back then this city ceased
GrammarThe main clause finally arrives After all the suspended als, während, and wie clauses, the grammatical spine lands here. damals picks up the poem's first word; hörte diese Stadt auf zu sein means 'this city ceased to be'.
17
to be. All at once it admitted
GrammarAufhören zu plus infinitive aufhören, 'to stop, cease', takes zu plus an infinitive, aufhören zu sein, 'to cease to be'. The prefix separated in the line before rejoins here. Then Auf einmal, 'all at once', and zugeben, 'to admit': gab sie zu, 'it admitted'.
18
that it never was, pleading for nothing
GrammarDaß introduces the confession daß, spelled with ß as Rilke wrote it, today dass, means 'that', and introduces what the city admits, sending its verb to the end, daß sie niemals war, 'that it never was'. um nichts als Ruh means 'for nothing but rest'.
19
but rest; like a madman whom the tangle
WordA verb for pleading flehend is the present participle of flehen, 'to beg, implore, plead', which takes um for what is begged, um nichts als Ruh flehend, 'pleading for nothing but rest'. The city begs only to be let stop existing.
WordA madman and a coined noun ein Irrer means 'a madman, a deranged person', from irre, 'astray, insane'. das Wirrn is a Rilke coinage for the tangle or confusion, related to wirr, 'confused'. The relative dem is dative, 'the madman for whom the tangle'.
20
that betrayed him suddenly unravels,
WordReflexive verb, to unravel sich entwirren, 'to disentangle itself', is the reflexive of entwirren. das Wirrn entwirrt sich plötzlich means 'the tangle suddenly untangles'. das ihn verriet, 'that betrayed him', describes the confusion that had given the madman away.
21
and who feels a years-long, sick,
GrammarRelative pronoun tracking the madman der, 'who', still refers to ein Irrer, the madman. The accusative object einen jahrelangen kranken Gedanken, 'a years-long, sick thought', stretches across three lines before its verbs, fallen fühlt, arrive at the end.
22
wholly unchangeable thought,
GrammarA gerundive expressing possibility der zu verwandelnde Gedanke means 'the thought to be changed'; zu plus a declined present participle expresses obligation or possibility. With gar nicht it negates fully, 'a thought not at all to be changed'.
WordA recurring word for change verwandeln means 'to transform, change, transmute', a recurring Rilke word. Here the fixed delusion is gar nicht zu verwandeln, incapable of being transformed, until it simply drops away like the city's existence.
23
that he need never think again: granite—
GrammarNever again, plus a colon nie mehr means 'never again, no more'. The relative clause den er nie mehr denken muß means 'that he need never think again'. After the colon, Granit, 'granite', names what the released thought has become.
24
from the empty, swaying brain
WordSchwanken means to sway schwankend is the present participle of schwanken, 'to sway, totter, waver'. aus dem leeren schwankenden Gehirn means 'out of the empty, swaying brain', dative after aus. The petrified thought drops from the reeling mind.
25
fall, until one sees it no more.
GrammarPerception verb with bare infinitive Verbs of perception like fühlen, 'to feel', take a bare infinitive without zu, fühlt fallen, 'feels it fall'. These are the long-awaited verbs of the final sentence. bis man ihn nicht mehr sieht means 'until one sees it no more'.

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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