Sonnet VII
Thy words are torture to me, that scarce grieve thee—That entire death shall null my entire thought;And I feel torture, not that I believe thee,But that I cannot disbelieve thee not.Shall that of me that now contains the starsBe by the very contained stars survived?Thus were Fate all unjust. Yet what truth barsAn all unjust Fate’s truth from being believed?Conjecture cannot fit to the seen worldA garment of its thought untorn or covering,Or with its stuffed garb forge an otherworldWithout itself its dead deceit discovering;So, all being possible, an idle thought mayLess idle thoughts, self-known no truer, dismay.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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,]
- disbelieve v. t.
- Not to believe; to refuse belief or credence to; to hold not to be true or actual.
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet VII 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 VII, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-vii.html, id L23636.
Form and metre
Sonnet VII 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 78%).
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 theeA · thoughtB · theeA · notB · starsC · survivedD · barsC · believedD · worldE · coveringF · otherworldE · discoveringF · mayG · dismayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thy words are torture to me, that scarce grieve thee— | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| That entire death shall null my entire thought; | 10 | ·˘/····˘/· |
| And I feel torture, not that I believe thee, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/· |
| But that I cannot disbelieve thee not. | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| Shall that of me that now contains the stars | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Be by the very contained stars survived? | 10 | ···/˘˘/·˘/ |
| Thus were Fate all unjust. Yet what truth bars | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| An all unjust Fate’s truth from being believed? | 10 | ··˘/···/˘/ |
| Conjecture cannot fit to the seen world | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| A garment of its thought untorn or covering, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Or with its stuffed garb forge an otherworld | 10 | ·········· |
| Without itself its dead deceit discovering; | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘/˘ |
| So, all being possible, an idle thought may | 10 | ··//˘·/˘·· |
| Less idle thoughts, self-known no truer, dismay. | 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.