# Todeserfahrung · Experience of Death

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

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

**1** Wir wissen nichts von diesem Hingehn, das  
We know nothing of this going-hence, which
> An infinitive used as a euphemism: Hingehn is the infinitive of hingehen, 'to go away, pass on', used here as a neuter noun and euphemism for dying. diesem Hingehn, dative after von, means 'this going-hence'.
> A relative pronoun spanning lines: das is a neuter relative pronoun referring back to Hingehn, 'going-hence'. Its clause continues into the next line, where das is the subject of teilt, 'shares': 'this going-hence, which does not share itself with us'.

**2** nicht mit uns teilt. Wir haben keinen Grund,  
does not share itself with us. We have no ground,
> Sharing itself with us: teilen mit means 'to share with'; here it is used reflexively in sense, though without sich, meaning the going-hence does not disclose or communicate itself to us. nicht mit uns teilt means 'does not share [itself] with us'.

**3** Bewunderung und Liebe oder Haß  
admiration and love or hatred
> The old spelling of hatred: der Haß means 'hatred', spelled with the old ß rather than modern ss. It is coordinated with Bewunderung, 'admiration', Liebe, 'love', by oder, listing the feelings we might show death but do not, since death cannot receive them.

**4** dem Tod zu zeigen, den ein Maskenmund  
to show to death, whom a masked mouth
> A dative recipient for showing: zeigen takes a dative person and an accusative thing: dem Tod, 'to death', is the dative recipient. dem Tod zu zeigen means 'to show to death', completing the sentence's earlier statement that we have no ground for admiration, love, or hatred to show it.
> A compound for a masked mouth: Maskenmund is a compound of Maske, 'mask', and Mund, 'mouth', naming a mouth fixed in a mask's frozen expression. ein Maskenmund is the subject of entstellt, 'distorts', in the next line.


**5** tragischer Klage wunderlich entstellt.  
strangely distorts with tragic lament.
> The verb for distorting: entstellen means 'to distort, disfigure'; entstellt is its third-person present form. tragischer Klage... entstellt means '[a masked mouth] distorts [death] with tragic lament', with tragischer Klage dative, the means by which the distortion happens.

**6** Noch ist die Welt voll Rollen, die wir spielen.  
The world is still full of roles that we play.
> An adverb inverting the word order: Noch, 'still', opens the sentence, so the verb ist follows immediately and the subject die Welt comes after it: normal order would be Die Welt ist noch. voll Rollen means 'full of roles', with Rollen genitive after voll.

**7** Solang wir sorgen, ob wir auch gefielen,  
As long as we fret whether we, too, pleased,
> Subordinating as long as: Solang means 'as long as', introducing a subordinate clause whose verb, sorgen, 'fret, worry', comes at the end. ob wir auch gefielen means 'whether we too pleased', a second subordinate clause nested inside the first.

**8** spielt auch der Tod, obwohl er nicht gefällt.  
death too goes on playing, though it does not please.
> Two verbs sharing one form: gefällt here is the third-person present of gefallen, 'to please', not of fällen, 'to fell, cut down', though the two verbs share this form. obwohl er nicht gefällt means 'though it does not please', referring back to der Tod, 'death'.


**9** Doch als du gingst, da brach in diese Bühne  
But when you went, there broke onto this stage
> als meaning when, normal order: als here introduces a past-time clause meaning 'when'. du gingst is the second-person past tense of gehen, 'to go'. Unlike als gingst du fehl earlier in this batch, here the clause has normal word order because als, not the comparison itself, does the subordinating.

**10** ein Streifen Wirklichkeit durch jenen Spalt,  
a strip of reality through that crack,
> A strip of something abstract: der Streifen means 'a strip, a stripe'. Wirklichkeit, 'reality', follows it in the genitive without an article, a compact construction meaning 'a strip of reality', suggesting reality showing only in a narrow band through a crack.

**11** durch den du hingingst: Grün wirklicher Grüne,  
through which you went out: green of real greenness,
> Past tense of going away: hingingst is the second-person singular past tense of hingehen, 'to go away, depart', a compound of hin-, 'away, thither', and gehen, 'to go'. durch den du hingingst means 'through which you went away'.
> An abstract noun made from an adjective: Grün, 'green', names the color; wirklicher Grüne, genitive, means 'of real greenness', with Grüne as an abstract noun formed from grün, 'green'. Grün wirklicher Grüne means 'green of real greenness', a green more intense than what is usually seen.

**12** wirklicher Sonnenschein, wirklicher Wald.  
real sunshine, real forest.


**13** Wir spielen weiter. Bang und schwer Erlerntes  
We go on playing. Anxiously reciting things
> A separable verb, prefix detached: weiterspielen means 'to go on playing, continue playing', a separable verb; weiter detaches and moves to the end of the clause: Wir spielen weiter means 'We go on playing'.
> A participle turned into a noun: erlernt is the past participle of erlernen, 'to learn thoroughly, master'; Erlerntes, capitalized, turns it into a neuter noun, 'things learned, learned material'. Bang und schwer describes the manner: 'anxiously and laboriously'.

**14** hersagend und Gebärden dann und wann  
learned with effort, and now and then taking up
> The participle for reciting by rote: hersagen means 'to recite, say by rote', from sagen, 'to say', with the prefix her-. hersagend is its present participle, describing the ongoing act of reciting Erlerntes, 'things learned', from the line before.

**15** aufhebend; aber dein von uns entferntes,  
gestures; but your being, removed from us,
> A participle for taking up: aufheben here means 'to take up, pick up' (though the same verb elsewhere means 'to lift' or 'to cancel'); aufhebend is its present participle. It joins hersagend to describe two things done at once: reciting learned lines and taking up gestures.

**16** aus unserm Stück entrücktes Dasein kann  
withdrawn from our play, your existence can
> A play, not a piece: das Stück here means 'a play, a piece of theater', not 'a piece' in the general sense. aus unserm Stück means 'out of our play', naming the performance that dein Dasein, 'your existence', has been withdrawn from.
> A noun built from being there: das Dasein means 'existence, being', from da, 'there', plus sein, 'to be', literally 'being there'. It is the grammatical subject of kann, 'can', continuing into the next line with the verb überkommen, 'come over'.


**17** uns manchmal überkommen, wie ein Wissen  
sometimes come over us, like a knowledge
> Coming over someone, like a feeling: überkommen means 'to come over, overtake, seize (a feeling)', used here as the infinitive completing kann, 'can': kann... überkommen means 'can come over [us]'. wie ein Wissen, 'like a knowledge', describes the manner in which it happens.

**18** von jener Wirklichkeit sich niedersenkend,  
of that reality, sinking down,
> A reflexive participle for sinking down: sich niedersenken means 'to sink down, settle downward'. niedersenkend is its present participle, describing dein... Dasein as it sinks down von jener Wirklichkeit, 'from that reality', into the players' awareness.

**19** so daß wir eine Weile hingerissen  
so that for a while, carried away,
> Subordinating a result clause: so daß means 'so that', introducing a clause of result rather than purpose: it states what follows from something, not what someone intends. Its verb, spielen, arrives two lines later, after hingerissen, 'carried away'.

**20** das Leben spielen, nicht an Beifall denkend.  
we play life itself, not thinking of applause.
> A participle with its object placed first: denken an etwas means 'to think of/about something'; here it appears as a present participle, denkend, with its object, an Beifall, 'of applause', placed before it. nicht an Beifall denkend means 'not thinking of applause'.

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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.