German · New Poems

Östliches Taglied

Eastern Aubade

17 lines · 20 notes

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1
Is this bed not like a coastline,
IstIssein · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
diesesthisdieser · determiner, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Bette
BettebedBett · noun, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Ist
Archaic poetic nominative ending -e on 'Bett', common in Rilke's verse.
nichtnotnicht · particledepends on Ist
wielikewie · prepositiondepends on Ist
eineaein · determiner, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Küste
KüstecoastlineKüste · noun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on wie
WordAn older dative-style form Das Bett means 'bed'. Bette is an older, poetic form with a final -e, once common in elevated verse and felt as old-fashioned now. This line opens the poem with that rounder, more lyrical form rather than the plain Bett.
2
only a strip of shore, on which we lie?
GrammarA pronoun fused with a preposition Darauf fuses da-, standing for a thing, with the preposition auf, 'on', giving 'on which, on it'. German uses these da- compounds instead of preposition plus pronoun when referring to a thing. Here it points back to Küstenstreifen, 'strip of shore'.
3
Nothing is certain but your high breasts,
GrammarA word meaning except After nichts, 'nothing', als means 'except, other than, but', so nichts als means 'nothing but'. In other contexts als can mean 'when', 'as', or 'than'. The line reads 'nothing is certain but your high breasts'.
WordAn older spelling with ß Gewiß means 'certain, sure'. It is spelled with ß in the orthography used at the time this poem was written; modern German writes gewiss, since the vowel before it is short. The word is kept here as originally printed.
4
which my senses, reeling, climbed beyond.
WordAn inseparable verb meaning surpass Übersteigen means literally 'to climb over' and figuratively 'to surpass, to exceed'. Here it is the simple past of an inseparable verb, with the stress on the stem. Its subject, die, meaning the breasts, overwhelms mein Gefühl, 'my senses'.
5
For this night, in which so much cried out,
GrammarA coordinating conjunction, not weil denn is a coordinating conjunction meaning 'for, because'. Unlike weil, it does not send its verb to the end of the clause, so the relative clause that follows, in der so vieles schrie, keeps ordinary word order.
6
in which animals call to and tear at each other,
GrammarSich used to mean each other The reflexive pronoun sich is read here reciprocally: Tiere rufen und zerreißen sich means animals 'call to and tear at one another'. Zerreißen, 'to tear apart', combines reißen, 'to tear', with the intensifying prefix zer-. Sich governs both verbs at once.
7
is it not dreadfully strange to us? And how strange:
GrammarFremd takes the dative Fremd, 'strange, foreign', takes a dative for the person to whom something seems strange: sie ist uns fremd means 'it is strange to us'. Sie refers back to diese Nacht, 'this night'. Entsetzlich, 'dreadfully', intensifies the strangeness.
8
what slowly lifts up outside, called day,
WordA separable verb for beginning Anheben is a separable verb, here hebt an, meaning 'to begin, to set in' and, in older usage, 'to rise, to lift up'. Was draußen langsam anhebt, 'what slowly begins outside', is the subject of the following line.
GrammarPast participle of heissen Heißen means 'to be called, to be named'. Tag geheißen is a compressed participial phrase meaning 'called day', naming the thing rising outside that people call Tag. Geheißen stands in apposition to was.
9
is that, then, any more intelligible to us than it?
GrammarComparative followed by als Verständlicher is the comparative of verständlich, 'comprehensible', and after a comparative als means 'than': 'more intelligible than it'. Sie again refers to die Nacht, 'the night'. The particle denn here means 'then, after all'.
10
One would have to lay oneself so into the other
GrammarSubjunctive stating a necessity Müßte, the older spelling of müsste, is the Konjunktiv II of müssen, 'must', meaning 'would have to'. With the impersonal man, 'one', it states a felt necessity rather than a fact: 'one would have to'.
WordA separable compound verb Ineinanderlegen combines legen, 'to lay', with ineinander, 'into one another'. Used reflexively, sich ineinanderlegen means 'to fold into each other'. So, 'so, thus', points forward to a comparison in the next line.
11
as petals fold around the stamens:
WordCompound nouns from botany Das Blütenblatt, plural Blütenblätter, means 'petal', literally 'bloom leaf'. Das Staubgefäß, plural Staubgefäße, means 'stamen', literally 'dust vessel'. Um, 'around', takes the accusative here, giving 'petals around the stamens'.
12
so everywhere is the immeasurable
WordAn adjective made into a noun Gemäß means 'fitting, in proportion'; ungemäß negates it, meaning 'disproportionate, beyond measure'. Capitalized as das Ungemäße, the adjective becomes a noun, 'the immeasurable'. Überall means 'everywhere'.
13
and heaps itself up and hurls itself toward us.
WordTwo reflexive separable verbs Sich anhäufen means 'to pile up, to accumulate', appearing here as häuft sich an. Sich entgegenstürzen, with the dative, means 'to hurl itself toward', giving stürzt sich uns entgegen, where uns means 'toward us'.
14
Yet while we press ourselves against each other,
GrammarDoch marks a turn, während delays the verb Doch, 'yet', marks a turn in the poem. Während, 'while', is a subordinating conjunction, so its clause sends the verb to the end: während wir uns... drücken. Sich aneinanderdrücken is a separable reflexive verb meaning 'to press against one another'.
15
so as not to see how it draws near all around,
GrammarUm zu expresses purpose Um plus zu with an infinitive expresses purpose, 'in order to'; adding nicht gives 'so as not to'. Um nicht zu sehen means 'in order not to see'. Ringsum means 'all around', and naht, from nahen, means 'draws near'.
16
it can dart out of you, can dart out of me:
WordA verb for drawing a blade Zücken normally means 'to draw, to whip out' a weapon, as in das Schwert zücken, 'to draw the sword'. Used reflexively here, sich zücken pictures something flashing out suddenly. Aus dir, aus mir means 'out of you, out of me', with aus taking the dative.
17
for our souls live on betrayal.
GrammarA verb phrase meaning to live on Von etwas leben means 'to live on something, to subsist on it'; von governs the dative Verrat, 'betrayal'. The closing line states that the souls in question live on betrayal rather than on anything outside them.

The particulars

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