German · New Poems: The Other Part

Schlafmohn

Opium Poppy

12 lines · 13 notes

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1
Off to one side in the garden the evil sleep blooms,
Abseitsoff to one sideabseits · adverbdepends on blüht
imin thein · prepositiondepends on blüht
GartengardenGarten · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on im
blühtbloomsblühen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Schlaf
böseevilböse · adjective, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Schlaf
SchlafsleepSchlaf · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on blüht
WordThe poppy split from its name The title Schlafmohn, 'sleep-poppy', names the opium poppy. The opening line splits the compound: der böse Schlaf, 'the evil sleep', is the flower itself, named for the narcotic stupor it gives. abseits means 'off to the side, apart'.
2
in which those who had secretly broken in
GrammarSeparable verb, perfect participle eindringen, 'to penetrate, intrude, break in', is separable, ein- plus dringen. eingedrungen is its past participle, with the auxiliary sind understood: die heimlich eingedrungen [sind] means 'those who had secretly intruded'. heimlich means 'secretly'.
3
found the love of young reflections,
GrammarGenitive of belonging die Spiegelung is a 'reflection, mirroring', from spiegeln, 'to mirror'; the genitive plural junger Spiegelungen, 'of young reflections', hangs on die Liebe. Read as fanden die Liebe junger Spiegelungen, 'found the love of young reflections'; word order is fluid in verse.
4
which were willing, open and concave,
WordConcave, hollowed inward willig, 'willing, compliant', offen, 'open', and konkav, 'concave, hollowed inward', all describe die Spiegelungen, reflections that yield, open out, and curve inward like a hollow mirror. The Latinate konkav lends a cool, precise tone.
5
and dreams that with agitated masks
WordAgitated, worked up aufgeregt means 'excited, agitated, worked up', from aufregen, 'to excite, stir up'; die Maske is a theatrical 'mask'. mit aufgeregten Masken takes the dative plural after mit and describes the Träume, 'dreams', that auftraten in the next line.
6
made their entrance, made huger by the buskins—:
GrammarTo make an entrance auftreten, 'to appear, step on stage, make an entrance', is separable, auf- plus treten, 'to step'; auftraten is its simple past plural. It governs Träume from the line above. riesiger is the comparative of riesig, 'gigantic', 'made even huger'.
7
all of that stalls in these, slack at the top,
WordTo halt, congeal das alles, 'all of that', gathers everything named before it as the subject. stocken means 'to come to a halt, stall, congeal', as blood or speech can stocken. in diesen, 'in these', dative plural, points ahead to the stems named in the next line.
WordA rare dialect adjective flask, here inflected flasken, is a rare, dialectal adjective meaning 'slack, limp, flabby', close to schlaff. oben flasken ... Stengeln means 'stems slack at the top', the poppy's stalks drooping under the weight of the swelling seed-head.
8
soft stems, which the seed-urn
WordA coined compound noun Samenurne joins Samen, 'seed', and Urne, 'urn': the poppy's round, capped seed-capsule figured as an urn. weichlich, 'soft, weakly', describes the dative plural Stengeln, 'stems', that carry it. The relative die ... die opens a clause completed by heben, 'raise'.
9
(after they had long, bearing the bud downward,
GrammarSubordinate after-clause nachdem, 'after', is a subordinating conjunction, so it sends its finite verb, meinten, 'thought', to the end of the clause, reached only on the next line. abwärts means 'downward'; tragend, 'bearing', is the present participle of tragen, 'to carry'.
10
thought they would wilt) raise tight-shut:
GrammarMeinen governs a zu-infinitive welken means 'to wilt, wither, fade'; zu welken meinten means 'thought they would wilt'. meinen takes a zu-infinitive to report what the stems believed of themselves, closing the nachdem-clause. festverschlossen, 'tightly shut', describes the urn as the stems raise it.
11
flinging fringed calyxes apart,
GrammarSeparable verb, to fling apart auseinanderschlagen, 'to fling apart, throw open', is separable, auseinander-, 'apart', plus schlagen, 'to beat, strike'; here it is the present participle auseinanderschlagend, describing how the stems raise the urn. gefranst means 'fringed, frayed'.
12
which feverishly surround the poppy-vessel.
WordCompound noun and its verb Mohngefäß joins Mohn, 'poppy', and Gefäß, 'vessel', naming the poppy's seed-capsule once more. umgeben, 'to surround, encircle', governs das Mohngefäß as its object: the fringed calyxes 'feverishly surround the poppy-vessel'. fieberhaft means 'feverish, frantic'.

The particulars

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