Sonnet VI
As a bad orator, badly o’er-book-skilled,Doth overflow his purpose with made heat,And, like a clock, winds with withoutness willedWhat should have been an inner instinct’s feat;Or as a prose-wit, harshly poet turned,Lacking the subtler music in his measure,With useless care labours but to be spurned,Courting in alien speech the Muse’s pleasure;I study how to love or how to hate,Estranged by consciousness from sentiment,With a thought feeling forced to be sedateEven when the feeling’s nature is violent;As who would learn to swim without the river,When nearest to the trick, as far as ever.
About this text
Sonnet VI 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 VI, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-vi.html, id L23635.
Form and metre
Sonnet VI 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 79%).
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 skilledA · heatB · willedA · featB · turnedC · measureD · spurnedC · pleasureD · hateE · sentimentF · sedateE · violentF · riverG · everG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As a bad orator, badly o’er-book-skilled, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Doth overflow his purpose with made heat, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And, like a clock, winds with withoutness willed | 10 | ·········· |
| What should have been an inner instinct’s feat; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Or as a prose-wit, harshly poet turned, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Lacking the subtler music in his measure, | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| With useless care labours but to be spurned, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Courting in alien speech the Muse’s pleasure; | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| I study how to love or how to hate, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Estranged by consciousness from sentiment, | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| With a thought feeling forced to be sedate | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Even when the feeling’s nature is violent; | 11 | /··/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| As who would learn to swim without the river, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| When nearest to the trick, as far as ever. | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
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.