Sonnet XXXIII
He that goes back does, since he goes, advance,Though he doth not advance who goeth back,And he that seeks, though he on nothing chance,May still by words be said to find a lack.This paradox of having, that is noughtIn the world’s meaning of the things it screens,Is yet true of the substance of pure thoughtAnd there means something by the nought it means.For thinking nought does on nought being confer,As giving not is acting not to give,And, to the same unbribed true thought, to errIs to find truth, though by its negative.So why call this world false, if false to beBe to be aught, and being aught Being to be?
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXIII 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 XXXIII, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xxxiii.html, id L23662.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXIII 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 82%).
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 advanceA · backB · chanceA · lackB · noughtC · screensD · thoughtC · meansD · conferE · giveF · errE · negativeF · beG · beG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He that goes back does, since he goes, advance, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Though he doth not advance who goeth back, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| And he that seeks, though he on nothing chance, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| May still by words be said to find a lack. | 10 | ·········· |
| This paradox of having, that is nought | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In the world’s meaning of the things it screens, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Is yet true of the substance of pure thought | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And there means something by the nought it means. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For thinking nought does on nought being confer, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘/ |
| As giving not is acting not to give, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And, to the same unbribed true thought, to err | 10 | ·········· |
| Is to find truth, though by its negative. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| So why call this world false, if false to be | 10 | ·········· |
| Be to be aught, and being aught Being to be? | 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.