Sonnet XV
Like a bad suitor desperate and tremblingFrom the mixed sense of being not loved and loving,Who with feared longing half would know, dissemblingWith what he’d wish proved what he fears soon proving,I look with inner eyes afraid to look,Yet perplexed into looking, at the worthThis verse may have and wonder, of my book,To what thoughts shall’t in alien hearts give birth.But, as he who doth love, and, loving, hopes,Yet, hoping, fears, fears to put proof to proof,And in his mind for possible proofs gropes,Delaying the true proof, lest the real thing scoff,I daily live, i’th’ fame I dream to see,But by my thought of others’ thought of me.
Words in this poem
- suitor n.
- One who sues, petitions, or entreats; a petitioner; an applicant.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- dissembling a.
- That dissembles; hypocritical; false.
- 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 XV 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 XV, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xv.html, id L23644.
Form and metre
Sonnet XV 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 tremblingA · lovingB · dissemblingA · provingB · lookC · worthD · bookC · birthD · hopesE · proofF · gropesE · scoffF · seeG · meG
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 a bad suitor desperate and trembling | 11 | ···/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| From the mixed sense of being not loved and loving, | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| Who with feared longing half would know, dissembling | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| With what he’d wish proved what he fears soon proving, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I look with inner eyes afraid to look, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Yet perplexed into looking, at the worth | 10 | ·˘/··/˘··· |
| This verse may have and wonder, of my book, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To what thoughts shall’t in alien hearts give birth. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But, as he who doth love, and, loving, hopes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet, hoping, fears, fears to put proof to proof, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And in his mind for possible proofs gropes, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Delaying the true proof, lest the real thing scoff, | 11 | ˘/˘········ |
| I daily live, i’th’ fame I dream to see, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But by my thought of others’ thought of me. | 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.