Sonnet XVIII
Indefinite space, which, by co-substance night,In one black mystery two void mysteries blends;The stray stars, whose innumerable lightRepeats one mystery till conjecture ends;The stream of time, known by birth-bursting bubbles;The gulf of silence, empty even of nought;Thought’s high-walled maze, which the outed owner troublesBecause the string’s lost and the plan forgot:When I think on this and that here I stand,The thinker of these thoughts, emptily wise,Holding up to my thinking my thing-handAnd looking at it with thought-alien eyes,The prayer of my wonder looketh pastThe universal darkness lone and vast.
Words in this poem
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XVIII 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 XVIII, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xviii.html, id L23647.
Form and metre
Sonnet XVIII 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 nightA · blendsB · lightA · endsB · bubblesC · noughtD · troublesC · forgotD · standE · wiseF · handE · eyesF · pastG · vastG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Indefinite space, which, by co-substance night, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| In one black mystery two void mysteries blends; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The stray stars, whose innumerable light | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| Repeats one mystery till conjecture ends; | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The stream of time, known by birth-bursting bubbles; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| The gulf of silence, empty even of nought; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| Thought’s high-walled maze, which the outed owner troubles | 12 | ······/˘/˘/˘ |
| Because the string’s lost and the plan forgot: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| When I think on this and that here I stand, | 10 | ·········· |
| The thinker of these thoughts, emptily wise, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Holding up to my thinking my thing-hand | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And looking at it with thought-alien eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The prayer of my wonder looketh past | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| The universal darkness lone and vast. | 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.