Sonnet III
When I do think my meanest line shall beMore in Time’s use than my creating whole,That future eyes more clearly shall feel meIn this inked page than in my direct soul;When I conjecture put to make me seeingGood readers of me in some aftertime,Thankful to some idea of my beingThat doth not even my with gone true soul rime;An anger at the essence of the world,That makes this thus, or thinkable this wise,Takes my soul by the throat and makes it hurledIn nightly horrors of despaired surmise,And I become the mere sense of a rageThat lacks the very words whose waste might ’suage.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- thankful a.
- Obtaining or deserving thanks; thankworthy. [AS. Þancfull.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- thinkable a.
- Capable of being thought or conceived; cogitable. Sir W.
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet III is in the public domain. This text is taken from 35 Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #19978; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Fernando Pessoa, Sonnet III, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-iii.html, id L23632.
Form and metre
Sonnet III is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: ever / river, not / thought, is / this.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG beA · wholeB · meA · soulB · seeingC · aftertimeD · beingC · rimeD · worldE · wiseF · hurledE · surmiseF · rageG · suageG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I do think my meanest line shall be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| More in Time’s use than my creating whole, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That future eyes more clearly shall feel me | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In this inked page than in my direct soul; | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| When I conjecture put to make me seeing | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Good readers of me in some aftertime, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thankful to some idea of my being | 11 | /˘··˘/˘··/˘ |
| That doth not even my with gone true soul rime; | 10 | ···/······ |
| An anger at the essence of the world, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That makes this thus, or thinkable this wise, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Takes my soul by the throat and makes it hurled | 10 | ·········· |
| In nightly horrors of despaired surmise, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| And I become the mere sense of a rage | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| That lacks the very words whose waste might ’suage. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.