German · New Poems: The Other Part

Schwarze Katze

Black Cat

18 lines · 18 notes

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1
A ghost is still like a place
EinAein · determiner, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Gespenst
GespenstghostGespenst · noun, nominative, neuter, singularsubject of ist
istissein · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
nochstillnoch · adverbdepends on ist
wielikewie · prepositiondepends on ist
eineaein · determiner, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on Stelle
StelleplaceStelle · noun, nominative, feminine, singulardepends on wie
WordA spectre, not a soul das Gespenst means 'ghost, spectre, apparition', a shape that appears rather than a departed person (der Geist can mean both 'spirit' and 'mind'). noch here means 'still, even yet', modifying ist.
2
against which your gaze strikes with a ringing sound;
Grammardran plus stoßen an dran is a colloquial shortening of daran, a da-compound standing in for an plus the antecedent Stelle. The verb stoßen an, 'to bump, strike against', governs it: dein Blick stößt dran means 'your gaze strikes against it'.
3
but here, upon this black fur,
Grammaran plus dative; the -e on Felle an here marks a fixed location and takes the dative: diesem schwarzen Felle, 'on this black fur'. das Fell means an animal's 'coat, pelt, fur'. The extra -e on Felle is the old dative-singular ending, archaic but kept here for the rhyme with Stelle.
4
your strongest seeing is dissolved:
GrammarPassive with werden wird ... aufgelöst is a present-tense passive: werden plus the past participle of auflösen, 'to dissolve, break up, undo'. das Schauen is the verb schauen, 'to gaze', made into a noun, 'seeing'.
5
as a raging man, when in his fullest
GrammarA participle used as a noun tobend is the present participle of toben, 'to rage, rave, storm'; declined like an adjective and capitalized, it becomes a noun, ein Tobender, 'a raging one'. The simile runs across the whole stanza.
6
frenzy stamps into the black,
GrammarAdjective as neuter noun ins Schwarze equals in das Schwarze, the adjective schwarz turned into a neuter noun, 'the black', after the accusative of motion in. stampft, from stampfen, 'to stamp, pound', with in plus the accusative, expresses charging headlong into it.
7
abruptly, at the muffling padding
WordAn elevated word for abruptly jählings is an elevated adverb meaning 'abruptly, all at once, headlong', related to jäh, 'sudden, steep'. das Gepolster means 'padding, upholstery'; benehmend, 'taking away, deadening', describes how it absorbs the blow. am equals an dem, dative after an.
8
of a cell stops short and evaporates.
Wordaufhören and verdampfen aufhören means 'to stop, cease, leave off'; verdampfen means 'to vaporize, evaporate'. einer Zelle is a genitive, 'of a cell', depending on Gepolster in the line above. Both verbs are third-person singular present, coordinated with und.
9
All the glances that ever struck her,
GrammarRelative clause; sie is the cat die ... trafen is a relative clause modifying alle Blicke, 'all the glances'. die is the plural relative pronoun and subject; sie is the accusative object, referring to the cat. trafen is the simple past of treffen, 'to hit, meet, strike'.
10
she seems, then, to conceal upon herself,
WordTo conceal, literary verhehlen is a literary verb for 'to conceal, hide, keep secret'. scheint ... zu verhehlen combines scheinen, 'to seem', with zu plus infinitive. an sich means 'on, about herself'; also here means the older 'thus, so', not English 'also'.
11
in order, over them, threatening and sullen,
Grammarum ... zu across three lines um opens a purpose clause, 'in order to ...', whose infinitives arrive two lines later. German lets the um ... zu frame stretch across a whole sentence. darüber means 'over it, about it'; drohend, 'threatening', and verdrossen, 'sullen', describe the mood.
12
to shudder at them and, with that, to sleep.
WordTo shudder schauern means 'to shiver, shudder'; zuzuschauern is the zu-infinitive of zuschauern, carrying the um ... zu from earlier. It pairs with zu schlafen, 'to sleep', both infinitives completing the purpose clause.
13
But all at once she turns, as if woken,
Grammarwie plus past participle wie geweckt compresses 'as though she had been woken' into two words. geweckt is the participle of wecken, 'to wake someone'. auf einmal is the fixed phrase 'all at once, suddenly'; kehren here means 'to turn'.
14
her face full into yours:
Grammarmitten in plus accusative; das deine mitten in, 'right into the middle of', takes the accusative for motion, as in mitten in das deine. das deine is the possessive pronoun standing for dein Gesicht, 'yours', meaning your face.
15
and there you meet your own gaze in the yellow
WordA dialect word for yellow geel is a Low-German or regional form of gelb, 'yellow', chosen here to rhyme with verhehlen. du triffst deinen Blick uses treffen again, meaning 'you meet, encounter your own gaze'.
16
amber of her round eye-stones
WordA Rilke coinage Augensteine, 'eye-stones', is a compound Rilke uses for the cat's eyes. ihrer ... Augensteine is genitive, 'of her eye-stones', depending on Amber, 'amber', in the same clause.
17
unexpectedly again: enclosed
Grammareinschließen becomes eingeschlossen eingeschlossen is the past participle of einschließen, 'to lock in, enclose, encase'. It stands in apposition to deinen Blick, 'your gaze', from the line before, describing it as enclosed.
18
like an insect long extinct.
WordDied out, extinct ausgestorben means 'died out, extinct', the participle of aussterben, 'to die out'. It modifies ein Insekt, 'an insect', in the nominative neuter singular, agreeing with the noun that follows.

The particulars

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