Sonnet X
As to a child, I talked my heart asleepWith empty promise of the coming day,And it slept rather for my words made sleepThan from a thought of what their sense did say.For did it care for sense, would it not wakeAnd question closer to the morrow’s pleasure?Would it not edge nearer my words, to takeThe promise in the meting of its measure?So, if it slept, ’twas that it cared but forThe present sleepy use of promised joy,Thanking the fruit but for the forecome flowerWhich the less active senses best enjoy.Thus with deceit do I detain the heartOf which deceit’s self knows itself a part.
Words in this poem
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet X 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 X, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-x.html, id L23639.
Form and metre
Sonnet X 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 86%).
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 asleepA · dayB · sleepA · sayB · wakeC · pleasureD · takeC · measureD · forE · joyF · flowerE · enjoyF · heartG · partG
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 to a child, I talked my heart asleep | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With empty promise of the coming day, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And it slept rather for my words made sleep | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Than from a thought of what their sense did say. | 10 | ·········· |
| For did it care for sense, would it not wake | 10 | ·········· |
| And question closer to the morrow’s pleasure? | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Would it not edge nearer my words, to take | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| The promise in the meting of its measure? | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| So, if it slept, ’twas that it cared but for | 10 | ·········· |
| The present sleepy use of promised joy, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thanking the fruit but for the forecome flower | 11 | /˘········/ |
| Which the less active senses best enjoy. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thus with deceit do I detain the heart | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Of which deceit’s self knows itself a part. | 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.