# Vor dem Sommerregen · Before the Summer Rain

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/vor-dem-sommerregen. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/vor-dem-sommerregen.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Auf einmal ist aus allem Grün im Park  
All at once, out of all the green in the park,
> Fixed 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** man weiß nicht was, ein Etwas, fortgenommen;  
one cannot say what, some something, has been taken away;
> Something 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** man fühlt ihn näher an die Fenster kommen  
one feels it drawing nearer to the windows
> Pronoun 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.
> Perception 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** und schweigsam sein. Inständig nur und stark  
and falling silent. Urgent only, and strong,
> Adverb 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** ertönt aus dem Gehölz der Regenpfeifer,  
the plover sounds out from the thicket,
> Verb 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.
> Compound 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** man denkt an einen Hieronymus:  
one thinks of a Saint Jerome:
> Verb 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 sehr steigt irgend Einsamkeit und Eifer  
so strongly do some loneliness and zeal arise
> Correlative 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** aus dieser einen Stimme, die der Guß  
from this single voice, which the downpour
> Older 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** erhören wird. Des Saales Wände sind  
will answer. The hall's walls have
> Verb 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.
> Elevated 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** mit ihren Bildern von uns fortgetreten,  
drawn back from us with their pictures,
> Separable 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** als dürften sie nicht hören, was wir sagen.  
as if they were not allowed to hear what we say.
> Unreal 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** Es spiegeln die verblichenen Tapeten  
The faded tapestries reflect
> Placeholder 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.
> An 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** das ungewisse Licht von Nachmittagen,  
the uncertain light of afternoons
> Un- 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 denen man sich fürchtete als Kind.  
in which, as a child, one used to be afraid.
> Relative 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.
> To 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'.

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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.