[1] Nur wer die Leier schon hob: This first verse sets the pattern for the first and third verses of the quatrains and the first verse of the tercets: each has 2 complete poetic dactylic feet plus a masculine rhymed single foot. The first two words "Nur wer" create a mini-anaphora, since they only occurs twice at the beginning of each quatrain. The sonnet only having 14 lines, even twice is notable for the structure. Dactyl: A metrical foot consisting of one long syllable followed by two short ones. Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.

[2] auch unter Schatten: This second verse sets the pattern for the second and fourth verse of the quatrains and the second of the tercets: They are all basically an adonic line, consisting of a dactylic plus a trochaic foot. Hyberbaton. The normal word order would be "Nur wer auch unter Schatten die Leier schon hob, . . ." Adonic Line: The last line of a "Sapphic stanza." According to the German Wictionary, the Adoneus is: "ein aus der Antike stammender Versfuß aus fünf Glieders mit der Form -UU-U. In the Poets Collective website it is called the "Adonic line" and is "composed in 5 syllables, a dactyl followed by a trochee. Hyperbaton: A figure of speech, such as anastrophe or hysteron proteron, using deviation from normal or logical word order to produce an effect.

[3] ahnend erstatten: The concluding adonic line rhyming with the previous one. Note that each of the quatrains and the tercets consists of one complete sentence and all end with a period, unlike many of the previous Sonette where enjambment occurs among the elements. Adonic Line: The last line of a "Sapphic stanza." According to the German Wictionary, the Adoneus is: "ein aus der Antike stammender Versfuß aus fünf Glieders mit der Form -UU-U. In the Poets Collective website it is called the "Adonic line" and is "composed in 5 syllables, a dactyl followed by a trochee.

[4] Nur wer: The second of the mini-anaphoras. Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.

[5] aß: A somewhat abrupt enjambment ending with the first word of the verse and then continuing with the parenthetical possessive. The only similar example so far in the Sonetten is in 1-VII with "ging er hervor wie das Erz von des Steins / Schweigen." In that case the alliteration and the longer verses made the envambment less jarring, plus the fact that it concluded the sentence. Enjambment: The overflow into the following poetic line of a syntactic phrase (with its intonational contour) begun in the preceding line without a major juncture or pause.

[6] von dem ihren: A parenthetical possessive placed after the clause in which the possessed, "Mohn" exists. In a non-poetic sentence one would find "Nur wer mit Toten von ihrem Mohn aß, . . ."

[7] Mag: In English the verb "may" expresses both possibility and permission; In German it also means "to like." In this case it expresses possibility.

[8] Wisse das Bild: The first example of the truncated adonic line, a pattern which occurs in the two third verses of the tercets. "Bild" provides a strong emphasis to this the one command of the Sonnet and its selfsame masculine rhyming word in the last verse ends the Sonnet itself conclusively. The command is also a type of synaesthesia, since the abstract act of thinking is directed toward a visualization. It is to be noted that the later Ernst Zinn edition places this verse in italics, which he justifies because in the manuscript this verse was written in a French type of handwriting rather than in Rilke's normal Sütterlin style. Since Rilke normally underlined the words to be placed in Sperrdruck, but did not underline this verse, it was not, and very probably should not be emphasized, since by being placed after the colon and being a command, it has certainly enough emphasis. Note also the lack of an exclamation point, which is normally used in German. According to Duden Hauptschwierigkeiten: "Nach dem Aufforderungssatz steht gewöhnlich ein Ausrufezeichen. Ohne Nachdruck gesprochene Aufforderungssätze werden mit einem Punkt abgschlossen." Especially since this command is the main message of Sonnet IX it would normally have an Ausrufezeichen. Adonic Line: The last line of a "Sapphic stanza." According to the German Wictionary, the Adoneus is: "ein aus der Antike stammender Versfuß aus fünf Glieders mit der Form -UU-U. In the Poets Collective website it is called the "Adonic line" and is "composed in 5 syllables, a dactyl followed by a trochee. Synaesthesia: A sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.

[9] Doppelbereich: In the Duineser Elegien the angels "die Engel" are able to exist in both the realms of the living and the dead. In the Sonette an Orpheus Orpheus himself takes on this role. The word "Doppelbereich" meaning the "dual realm" seems to imply a realm in which the living and the dead coexist and only those who have inhabited this dual realm have the ability to impart the unending extolling "das unendliche lob." Along with these examples, this "Doppelbereich" exists also in the hypothetical scene in the fifth Elegie where the lovers perform in front of a cheering crowd of the dead.