# Tanagra · Tanagra

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

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

**1** Ein wenig gebrannter Erde,  
A little fired earth,
> Genitive after wenig, a little: gebrannt is the past participle of brennen, 'to burn, fire', used here as an adjective. Erde means 'earth, clay'. gebrannter Erde, genitive after wenig, means 'of fired earth', describing what the little figure is made of.

**2** wie von großer Sonne gebrannt.  
as if fired by a great sun.
> von marking the agent of a passive: gebrannt, 'fired', is a past participle used passively here; von großer Sonne names the agent that did the firing, 'by a great sun'. von plus a dative noun regularly marks the doer of an action in a German passive construction.

**3** Als wäre die Gebärde  
As though the gesture
> Opening an unreal comparison: als wäre means 'as though... were', introducing a comparison that is not literally true. wäre is the Subjunctive II form of sein, 'to be'. The subject, die Gebärde, 'the gesture', follows in the same clause.
> A noun for bearing or gesture: die Gebärde means 'gesture, bearing, expressive movement of the body'. Here it is the subject of the unreal comparison als wäre, 'as though [the gesture] were'.

**4** einer Mädchenhand  
of a girl's hand
> A genitive without von: einer Mädchenhand is genitive, meaning 'of a girl's hand'. German can mark possession this way, with a genitive ending on the noun, instead of using von plus dative. Mädchenhand itself is a compound of Mädchen, 'girl', and Hand, 'hand'.

**5** auf einmal nicht mehr vergangen;  
were all at once no longer passed away;
> Past participle of passing away: vergangen is the past participle of vergehen, 'to pass away, elapse'. nicht mehr vergangen means 'no longer passed away', with auf einmal, 'suddenly, all at once', marking how abruptly this reversal happens.

**6** ohne nach etwas zu langen,  
without reaching out for anything,
> Reaching out for something: langen nach etwas means 'to reach out for something, grasp toward something'. ohne, 'without', plus a zu-infinitive forms ohne... zu langen, 'without reaching out': the gesture asks nothing and reaches for nothing.

**7** zu keinem Dinge hin  
toward no thing at all,
> zu... hin, a two-part directional: zu... hin means 'toward, in the direction of'; hin reinforces the direction already given by zu and typically comes at the end of its phrase. zu keinem Dinge hin means 'toward no thing at all', with keinem in the dative required by zu.

**8** aus ihrem Gefühle führend,  
leading out of her own feeling,
> An older dative ending on a noun: aus takes the dative, so ihrem Gefühle, 'her feeling', is dative here, an older form with the -e ending still visible (modern usage would often drop it). aus ihrem Gefühle führend means 'leading out of her own feeling'.

**9** nur an sich selber rührend  
only touching upon herself,
> Touching only on herself: an etwas rühren means 'to touch upon something, stir something'; with sich selber, 'herself', it means 'to touch only upon herself'. selber emphasizes sich, much like 'herself' emphasizes 'her' in English.

**10** wie eine Hand ans Kinn.  
like a hand against the chin.
> A contraction before the chin: ans is a contraction of an das, 'to the'. an here takes the accusative because it marks contact or motion toward a point, das Kinn, 'the chin'. wie eine Hand ans Kinn means 'like a hand [placed] against the chin'.


**11** Wir heben und wir drehen  
We lift and we turn
> Two coordinated first-person verbs: heben, 'we lift', and drehen, 'we turn', are both first-person plural present-tense verbs, joined by und. Both share the same subject, wir, 'we', stated once before heben and repeated before drehen.

**12** eine und eine Figur;  
one figurine and another;
> One figurine, then another: eine is the feminine accusative form of ein, here used twice as a pronoun-like determiner meaning 'one' and then 'another'. eine und eine Figur means 'one figurine after another', with Figur, 'figurine, figure', understood with both.

**13** wir können fast verstehen,  
we can almost understand

**14** weshalb sie nicht vergehen,–  
why they do not fade away,—
> weshalb sending the verb to the end: weshalb means 'why, for which reason', introducing a subordinate clause. As in any German subordinate clause, the finite verb, vergehen, 'fade away', is pushed to the end, after its subject sie and the negation nicht.

**15** aber wir sollen nur  
but we are only to
> sollen, an obligation: sollen is a modal verb meaning 'to be supposed to, be meant to'. wir sollen nur means 'we are only meant to', setting up an infinitive that follows later in the sentence to complete the thought.

**16** tiefer und wunderbarer  
more deeply and more wondrously
> Two adverbs in the comparative: tiefer and wunderbarer are comparative forms of tief, 'deep', and wunderbar, 'wonderful', each formed regularly with -er. Used adverbially, they mean 'more deeply' and 'more wondrously', describing how something is done rather than what it is.

**17** hängen an dem, was war,  
cling to that which was,
> hängen an, clinging to: hängen an etwas means 'to cling to, be attached to something'. dem, was war means 'that which was', with dem as the object of an and was war as a relative clause defining it: 'they cling to that which was'.

**18** und lächeln: ein wenig klarer  
and smile: a little more clearly
> The verb for smiling: lächeln means 'to smile', distinct from lachen, 'to laugh'. Here it is an infinitive coordinated with hängen, 'cling', both describing what the figures continue to do: cling to the past, and smile.

**19** vielleicht als vor einem Jahr.  
perhaps than a year ago.
> A year ago, with vor: vor plus a dative time expression means 'ago': vor einem Jahr means 'a year ago'. als here means 'than', comparing this smile to how it was vor einem Jahr.

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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.