German · New Poems

Vor dem Sommerregen

Before the Summer Rain

14 lines · 19 notes

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1
All at once, out of all the green in the park,
Aufatauf · prepositiondepends on ist
"auf" means "on/upon/at," never "all" (that would be "alle"/"all-"). "Auf einmal" together is the fixed idiom "suddenly, all at once," but the word "auf" itself does not carry the sense "all."
einmalat onceeinmal · adverbdepends on Auf
isthassein · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
ausout ofaus · prepositiondepends on Grün
allemallalle · pronoun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on aus
GrüngreenGrün · noun, dative, neuter, singulardepends on aus
imin thein · prepositiondepends on Grün
ParkparkPark · noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on im
WordFixed phrase for suddenly auf einmal is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'all at once, suddenly'. aus allem Grün is dative after aus, 'out of', where all- takes the dative ending -em to agree with the neuter noun Grün, 'green, greenery'.
2
one cannot say what, some something, has been taken away;
WordSomething turned into a noun etwas, 'something', is capitalized and given the article ein to become a noun, ein Etwas, 'a something, an indefinable something'. man weiß nicht was means 'one does not know what'. fortgenommen is the past participle of fortnehmen, 'to take away'.
3
one feels it drawing nearer to the windows
GrammarPronoun refers to der Regen ihn is the accusative form of er, 'he, it', standing in for der Regen, 'rain', a masculine noun not named until later in the poem. German pronouns match the grammatical gender of their noun, so masculine Regen is replaced by ihn. an die Fenster is accusative after an, marking motion toward the windows.
GrammarPerception verb without zu fühlen, 'to feel', like sehen and hören, takes a bare infinitive with no zu: man fühlt ihn kommen means 'one feels it coming'. Both kommen in this line and sein in the next line depend on this same fühlt and fall at the end of their clauses.
4
and falling silent. Urgent only, and strong,
WordAdverb meaning urgent or insistent inständig means 'urgent, insistent, imploring', the adverb used for a fervent plea, as in inständig bitten, 'to beg earnestly'. Here it describes how the bird's cry ertönt, 'rings out', in the next line. schweigsam means 'silent, taciturn', completing sein from man fühlt ihn schweigsam sein, 'one feels it grow silent'.
5
the plover sounds out from the thicket,
GrammarVerb before its subject ertönt, 'rings out, sounds', opens the stanza, but its subject der Regenpfeifer comes only at the end of the line. The sentence began with Inständig nur und stark across the stanza break. German can place the finite verb before its subject for emphasis.
WordCompound name for the plover der Regenpfeifer, the plover, literally means 'rain piper', combining Regen, 'rain', and pfeifen, 'to whistle, pipe'. Its call was traditionally taken as a sign of coming rain. das Gehölz means 'copse, thicket, small wood'.
6
one thinks of a Saint Jerome:
GrammarVerb plus preposition for thinking of denken governs the preposition an plus the accusative: an einen Hieronymus denken means 'to think of a Jerome'. The accusative einen marks the object of an here, not motion. The indefinite article gives 'a Jerome', not one fixed figure.
7
so strongly do some loneliness and zeal arise
GrammarCorrelative meaning so much that so sehr steigt pairs with an implied result already carried by man denkt an einen Hieronymus: 'so much loneliness and zeal rises that one thinks of a Jerome'. Because so sehr fronts the clause, the verb steigt comes before its subject. irgend before a noun means 'some or other', left unspecified.
8
from this single voice, which the downpour
WordOlder spelling for downpour der Guß, spelled Guss in modern German, means 'a pouring', here a heavy burst of rain, from gießen, 'to pour'. The pre-1996 ß is kept as Rilke printed it. It is the subject of erhören wird, the verb completed in the next stanza.
9
will answer. The hall's walls have
WordVerb meaning to hear favorably erhören is not plain hören, 'to hear', but 'to hear favorably, to grant a prayer or plea'. With the future wird erhören, the coming downpour is what will answer the bird's voice. The relative clause die der Guß erhören wird refers back to dieser einen Stimme two lines above.
GrammarElevated word order for genitive des Saales is the genitive of der Saal, 'hall, large room', meaning 'of the hall'. German can place a genitive before its noun for an elevated tone: des Saales Wände means 'the hall's walls', where prose would say die Wände des Saales. The ending -es marks the masculine genitive.
10
drawn back from us with their pictures,
GrammarSeparable verb takes sein fortgetreten is the past participle of the separable verb forttreten, 'to step away, draw back'. It completes sind from the line above as a present perfect: sind fortgetreten means 'have stepped back'. Motion verbs like this use sein, not haben, to form the perfect. mit ihren Bildern means 'with their pictures', dative after mit.
11
as if they were not allowed to hear what we say.
GrammarUnreal comparison with dürften als, 'as though', sets up an unreal comparison and takes the subjunctive, dropping ob and placing the verb right after als. dürften is the past subjunctive of dürfen, 'to be allowed to': als dürften sie nicht hören means 'as though they were not permitted to hear'.
12
The faded tapestries reflect
GrammarPlaceholder es before real subject Es spiegeln die Tapeten opens with a dummy es that fills the first position so the true plural subject die Tapeten, 'the tapestries', can follow the verb spiegeln, 'reflect'. The es is not translated and only holds the slot. verblichen means 'faded, discolored', the past participle of verbleichen.
WordAn older sense of Tapete Tapeten is the nominative plural of die Tapete. Today the word means 'wallpaper', but here it keeps an older sense, a cloth wall hanging or tapestry. The tapestries, verblichen, 'faded', are the subject of spiegeln, 'reflect'.
13
the uncertain light of afternoons
WordUn- negates gewiss ungewisse is the accusative neuter singular of ungewiss, 'uncertain'. It negates gewiss, 'certain', with the prefix un-. It agrees with Licht, the noun it describes, and von Nachmittagen, 'of afternoons', is dative plural after von.
14
in which, as a child, one used to be afraid.
GrammarRelative pronoun in dative plural in denen means 'in which'. denen is the dative plural of the relative pronoun der, governed by in. It refers back to Nachmittagen, afternoons. In this relative clause the finite verb fürchtete stands at the end.
GrammarTo be afraid sich fürchten is a reflexive verb meaning 'to be afraid, to feel fear'. The reflexive pronoun sich belongs to the verb and is not translated separately. fürchtete is the simple past, Präteritum, used here for a repeated past habit, 'one used to be afraid'.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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