Sonnet XIV
We are born at sunset and we die ere morn,And the whole darkness of the world we know,How can we guess its truth, to darkness born,The obscure consequence of absent glow?Only the stars do teach us light. We graspTheir scattered smallnesses with thoughts that stray,And, though their eyes look through night’s complete mask,Yet they speak not the features of the day.Why should these small denials of the wholeMore than the black whole the pleased eyes attract?Why what it calls «worth» does the captive soulAdd to the small and from the large detract?So, put of light’s love wishing it night’s stretch,A nightly thought of day we darkly reach.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- detract v. t.
- To take away; to withdraw. [L. detractus, p. p. of detrahere to detract; de + trahere to draw: cf. F. détracter. See Trace.]
- 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 XIV 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 XIV, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xiv.html, id L23643.
Form and metre
Sonnet XIV 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 81%).
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 mornA · knowB · bornA · glowB · graspC · strayD · maskC · dayD · wholeE · attractF · soulE · detractF · stretchG · reachG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We are born at sunset and we die ere morn, | 11 | ····/······ |
| And the whole darkness of the world we know, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| How can we guess its truth, to darkness born, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The obscure consequence of absent glow? | 10 | ·˘//˘˘·/˘· |
| Only the stars do teach us light. We grasp | 10 | /˘········ |
| Their scattered smallnesses with thoughts that stray, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| And, though their eyes look through night’s complete mask, | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Yet they speak not the features of the day. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Why should these small denials of the whole | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| More than the black whole the pleased eyes attract? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Why what it calls «worth» does the captive soul | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Add to the small and from the large detract? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| So, put of light’s love wishing it night’s stretch, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A nightly thought of day we darkly reach. | 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.