# Römische Campagna · The Roman Campagna

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

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

**1** Aus der vollgestellten Stadt, die lieber  
Out of the crowded city, which would rather
> Past participle of vollstellen: vollgestellt is the past participle of vollstellen, 'to fill up, clutter a space with things', from voll, 'full', plus stellen, 'to place'. die vollgestellte Stadt is Rome jammed full of buildings. lieber completes with schliefe next line.

**2** schliefe, träumend von den hohen Thermen,  
sleep, dreaming of the high baths,
> Subjunctive expressing a wish: schliefe is Konjunktiv II of schlafen, 'to sleep'. With lieber from the line above it forms a wish contrary to fact, die lieber schliefe, 'which would rather sleep'. Thermen are the Roman bath complexes, whose ruins still stand.

**3** geht der grade Gräberweg ins Fieber;  
the straight road of tombs goes out into the fever;
> Compound naming a road of tombs: Gräberweg joins Gräber, plural of Grab, 'grave, tomb', to Weg, 'road, way': a road lined with tombs. grade is the clipped form of gerade, 'straight'. ins Fieber names the malaria long associated with the Roman Campagna.

**4** und die Fenster in den letzten Fermen  
and the windows in the last farmhouses
> A borrowed word for farmhouses: Fermen is the plural of Ferme, a borrowing from French ferme, 'farm', naming outlying farmhouses at the city's edge. Everyday German would say Höfe. in den letzten Fermen is dative after in, 'in the last farmsteads'.


**5** sehn ihm nach mit einem bösen Blick.  
watch after it with an evil look.
> Separable verb, dative object: nachsehen, 'to gaze after someone leaving', is separable: the prefix nach- splits off to the end of the clause, sehn ihm nach, 'gaze after it'. sehn is the poetic short form of sehen, and it takes a dative object, ihm.

**6** Und er hat sie immer im Genick,  
And it feels them always at the back of its neck,
> Idiom for feeling pursued: Genick is the nape, the back of the neck. The idiom jemanden im Genick haben means to have someone right behind you. Here er, the road, feels the windows' stares immer im Genick, 'always at its back'.

**7** wenn er hingeht, rechts und links zerstörend,  
as it goes on, destroying right and left,
> Present participle used as adverb: zerstörend is the present participle of zerstören, 'to destroy', used adverbially, 'destroying'. The prefix zer- carries the sense of breaking to pieces. hingehen is a separable verb, 'to go on'.

**8** bis er draußen atemlos beschwörend  
until, breathless out there, imploring,
> One word, two senses at once: beschwörend is the present participle of beschwören, which means both 'to implore, entreat' and 'to conjure up, invoke'. atemlos means 'breathless'; draußen means 'out there'. The participle reaches forward to hebt, 'lifts', in the next stanza.


**9** seine Leere zu den Himmeln hebt,  
lifts its emptiness up to the skies,
> Noun formed from an adjective: die Leere is the noun 'emptiness, void', from leer, 'empty'. It is the accusative object of hebt, 'lifts', seine Leere hebt, 'lifts its emptiness'. zu den Himmeln uses the plural Himmel, 'the skies'.

**10** hastig um sich schauend, ob ihn keine  
looking hastily about itself, whether no
> Reflexive phrase, verb held back: um sich schauen means 'to look around oneself'; as a present participle, um sich schauend means 'looking about itself'. ob, 'whether', opens an indirect question whose object ihn is held back until treffen on the next line.

**11** Fenster treffen. Während er den weiten  
windows strike it. While it, to the distant
> Subordinator sends verb to the end: während, 'while, as', is a subordinating conjunction, so its verb, zuwinkt, moves to the end of the clause. treffen here means 'to strike, to hit with a glance'.


**12** Aquädukten zuwinkt herzuschreiten,  
aqueducts waves, to come striding near,
> Dative-governing verb, waving: zuwinken, 'to wave to someone', is separable and governs the dative, den weiten Aquädukten zuwinkt, 'waves to the distant aqueducts'. herzuschreiten fuses her-, 'this way', with the zu-infinitive of schreiten, 'to stride'.

**13** geben ihm die Himmel für die seine  
the heavens give it, in exchange for its own,
> Possessive pronoun standing alone: die seine is the possessive pronoun 'its own', standing in for seine Leere, 'its emptiness', from the previous stanza; the feminine die agrees with Leere. für die seine means 'in exchange for its own'.

**14** ihre Leere, die ihn überlebt.  
their emptiness, which outlives it.
> Inseparable verb, no ge- prefix: überleben, 'to survive, outlive', is inseparable, so its past participle takes no ge-, überlebt. die ihn überlebt is a relative clause, 'which outlives it', die referring to ihre Leere, 'their emptiness'.

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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.