Sonnet XXXV
Good. I have done. My heart weighs. I am sad.The outer day, void statue of lit blue,Is altogether outward, other, gladAt mere being not-I (so my aches construe).I, that have failed in everything, bewailNothing this hour but that I have bewailed,For in the general fate what is’t to fail?Why, fate being past for Fate, ’tis but to have failed.Whatever hap-or stop, what matters it,Sith to the mattering our will bringeth nought?With the higher trifling let us world our wit,Conscious that, if we do’t, that was the lotThe regular stars bound us to, when they stoodGodfathers to our birth and to our blood.
Words in this poem
- altogether adv.
- All together; conjointly. [OE. altogedere; al all + togedere together. See Together.]
- sith prep.
- Since; afterwards; seeing that. [See Since.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXV 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 XXXV, in 35 Sonnets (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19978, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pessoa-35-sonnets/sonnet-xxxv.html, id L23664.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXV 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 78%).
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 sadA · blueB · gladA · construeB · bewailC · bewailedD · failC · failedD · itE · noughtF · witE · lotF · stoodG · bloodG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Good. I have done. My heart weighs. I am sad. | 10 | ·········· |
| The outer day, void statue of lit blue, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Is altogether outward, other, glad | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| At mere being not-I (so my aches construe). | 10 | ··/·····˘/ |
| I, that have failed in everything, bewail | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Nothing this hour but that I have bewailed, | 10 | /˘·/······ |
| For in the general fate what is’t to fail? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Why, fate being past for Fate, ’tis but to have failed. | 11 | ··/········ |
| Whatever hap-or stop, what matters it, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sith to the mattering our will bringeth nought? | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| With the higher trifling let us world our wit, | 10 | ··//˘···/· |
| Conscious that, if we do’t, that was the lot | 10 | /˘········ |
| The regular stars bound us to, when they stood | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Godfathers to our birth and to our blood. | 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.