Sonnet XXXIV
Happy the maimed, the halt, the mad, the blind—All who, stamped separate by curtailing birth,Owe no duty’s allegiance to mankindNor stand a valuing in their scheme of worth!But I, whom Fate, not Nature, did curtail,By no exterior voidness being exempt,Must bear accusing glances where I fail,Fixed in the general orbit of contempt.Fate, less than Nature in being kind to lacking,Giving the ill, shows not as outer cause,Making our mock-free will the mirror’s backingWhich Fate’s own acts as if in itself shows;And men, like children, seeing the image there,Take place for cause and make our will Fate bear.
Words in this poem
- curtail v. t.
- To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce. [See Curtal.]
- voidness n.
- The quality or state of being void;
- backing n.
- The act of moving backward, or of putting or moving anything backward.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXIV 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 XXXIV, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xxxiv.html, id L23663.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXIV 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 blindA · birthB · mankindA · worthB · curtailC · exemptD · failC · contemptD · lackingE · causeF · backingE · showsF · thereG · bearG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Happy the maimed, the halt, the mad, the blind— | 10 | /˘········ |
| All who, stamped separate by curtailing birth, | 11 | ···/˘˘·˘/˘· |
| Owe no duty’s allegiance to mankind | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘·// |
| Nor stand a valuing in their scheme of worth! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But I, whom Fate, not Nature, did curtail, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| By no exterior voidness being exempt, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘/ |
| Must bear accusing glances where I fail, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Fixed in the general orbit of contempt. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Fate, less than Nature in being kind to lacking, | 11 | ···/˘·/··/˘ |
| Giving the ill, shows not as outer cause, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Making our mock-free will the mirror’s backing | 11 | /˘/····/˘/˘ |
| Which Fate’s own acts as if in itself shows; | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| And men, like children, seeing the image there, | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| Take place for cause and make our will Fate bear. | 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.