Sonnet XXVII
How yesterday is long ago! The pastIs a fixed infinite distance from to-day,And bygone things, the first-lived as the last,In irreparable sameness far away.How the to-be is infinitely everOut of the place wherein it will be Now,Like the seen wave yet far up in the river,Which reaches not us, but the new-waved flow!This thing Time is, whose being is having none,The equable tyrant of our different fates,Who could not be bought off by a shattered sunOr tricked by new use of our careful dates.This thing Time is, that to the grave-will bearMy heart, sure but of it and of my fear.
Words in this poem
- bygone n.
- Something gone by or past; a past event.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXVII 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 XXVII, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xxvii.html, id L23656.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXVII 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 77%).
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 pastA · dayB · lastA · awayB · everC · nowD · riverC · flowD · noneE · fatesF · sunE · datesF · bearG · fearG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How yesterday is long ago! The past | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Is a fixed infinite distance from to-day, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And bygone things, the first-lived as the last, | 10 | ·/········ |
| In irreparable sameness far away. | 10 | ·˘/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| How the to-be is infinitely ever | 11 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Out of the place wherein it will be Now, | 10 | ·········· |
| Like the seen wave yet far up in the river, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Which reaches not us, but the new-waved flow! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| This thing Time is, whose being is having none, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| The equable tyrant of our different fates, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·//˘· |
| Who could not be bought off by a shattered sun | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Or tricked by new use of our careful dates. | 10 | ······//˘· |
| This thing Time is, that to the grave-will bear | 10 | ·········· |
| My heart, sure but of it and of my fear. | 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.