Sonnet XXV
We are in Fate and Fate’s and do but lackOutness from soul to know ourselves its dwelling,And do but compel Fate aside or backBy Fate’s own immanence in the compelling.We are too far in us from outward truthTo know how much we are not what we are,And live but in the heat of error’s youth,Yet young enough its acting youth to ignore.The doubleness of mind fails us, to glanceAt our exterior presence amid things,Sizing from otherness our countenanceAnd seeing our puppet will’s act-acting strings.An unknown language speaks in us, which weAre at the words of, fronted from reality.
Words in this poem
- outness n.
- The state of being out or beyond; separateness.
- immanence n.
- The condition or quality of being immanent; inherence; an indwelling.
- ignore v. t.
- To be ignorant of or not acquainted with. [L. ignorare; pref. in- not + the root of gnarus knowing, noscere to become acquainted with. See Know, and cf. Narrate.]
- doubleness n.
- The state of being double or doubled.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- sizing n.
- Act of covering or treating with size.
- otherness n.
- The quality or state of being other or different; alterity; oppositeness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXV 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 XXV, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xxv.html, id L23654.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXV 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 74%).
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 lackA · dwellingB · backA · compellingB · truthC · areD · youthC · ignoreD · glanceE · thingsF · countenanceE · stringsF · weG · realityG
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 in Fate and Fate’s and do but lack | 10 | ·········· |
| Outness from soul to know ourselves its dwelling, | 11 | /˘····˘/·/˘ |
| And do but compel Fate aside or back | 10 | ···˘/·˘/·· |
| By Fate’s own immanence in the compelling. | 11 | ···/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| We are too far in us from outward truth | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To know how much we are not what we are, | 10 | ·········· |
| And live but in the heat of error’s youth, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet young enough its acting youth to ignore. | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··˘/ |
| The doubleness of mind fails us, to glance | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| At our exterior presence amid things, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘/· |
| Sizing from otherness our countenance | 11 | /˘·/˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And seeing our puppet will’s act-acting strings. | 10 | ·///˘··/˘· |
| An unknown language speaks in us, which we | 10 | ·˘//˘····· |
| Are at the words of, fronted from reality. | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
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.