Sonnet XVII
My love, and not I, is the egoist.My love for thee loves itself more than thee;Ay, more than me, in whom it doth exist,And makes me live that it may feed on me.In the country of bridges the bridge isMore real than the shores it doth unsever;So in our world, all of Relation, thisIs true—that truer is Love than either lover.This thought therefore comes lightly to Doubt’s door—If we, seeing substance of this world, are notMere Intervals, God’s Absence and no more,Hollows in real Consciousness and Thought.And if ’tis possible to Thought to bear this fruit,Why should it not be possible to Truth?
Words in this poem
- egoist n.
- One given overmuch to egoism or thoughts of self. [F. égoïste. See Egoism.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XVII 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 XVII, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xvii.html, id L23646.
Form and metre
Sonnet XVII 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 76%).
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 egoistA · theeB · existA · meB · isC · unseverD · thisC · loverD · doorE · notF · moreE · thoughtF · fruitG · truthG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My love, and not I, is the egoist. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| My love for thee loves itself more than thee; | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Ay, more than me, in whom it doth exist, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And makes me live that it may feed on me. | 10 | ·········· |
| In the country of bridges the bridge is | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| More real than the shores it doth unsever; | 10 | ·········· |
| So in our world, all of Relation, this | 10 | ··/···˘/˘· |
| Is true—that truer is Love than either lover. | 12 | ···/˘···/˘/˘ |
| This thought therefore comes lightly to Doubt’s door— | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If we, seeing substance of this world, are not | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| Mere Intervals, God’s Absence and no more, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Hollows in real Consciousness and Thought. | 9 | /˘··/˘˘·· |
| And if ’tis possible to Thought to bear this fruit, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Why should it not be possible to Truth? | 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.