Sonnet XI
Like to a ship that storms urge on its course,By its own trials our soul is surer made.The very things that make the voyage worseDo make it better; its peril is its aid.And, as the storm drives from the storm, our heartWithin the peril disimperilled grows;A port is near the more from port we part—The port whereto our driven direction goes.If we reap knowledge to cross-profit, thisFrom storms we learn, when the storm’s height doth drive—That the black presence of its violence isThe pushing promise of near far blue skies.Learn we but how to have the pilot-skill,And the storm’s very might shall mate our will.
Words in this poem
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XI 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 XI, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xi.html, id L23640.
Form and metre
Sonnet XI 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 84%).
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 courseA · madeB · worseA · aidB · heartC · growsD · partC · goesD · thisE · driveF · isE · skiesF · skillG · willG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like to a ship that storms urge on its course, | 10 | ·········· |
| By its own trials our soul is surer made. | 11 | ···/˘/··/˘· |
| The very things that make the voyage worse | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Do make it better; its peril is its aid. | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| And, as the storm drives from the storm, our heart | 10 | ········/· |
| Within the peril disimperilled grows; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A port is near the more from port we part— | 10 | ·········· |
| The port whereto our driven direction goes. | 10 | ··˘///˘/˘· |
| If we reap knowledge to cross-profit, this | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From storms we learn, when the storm’s height doth drive— | 10 | ·········· |
| That the black presence of its violence is | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The pushing promise of near far blue skies. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Learn we but how to have the pilot-skill, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the storm’s very might shall mate our will. | 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.