Analysis of Sonnet VII.

Fernando Pessoa 1888 (Lisbon District) – 1935 (Lisbon)



Thy words are torture to me, that scarce grieve thee--
That entire death shall null my entire thought;
And I feel torture, not that I believe thee,
But that I cannot disbelieve thee not.
Shall that of me that now contains the stars
Be by the very contained stars survived?
Thus were Fate all unjust. Yet what truth bars
An all unjust Fate's truth from being believed?
Conjecture cannot fit to the seen world
A garment of its thought untorn or covering,
Or with its stuffed garb forge an otherworld
Without itself its dead deceit discovering;
So, all being possible, an idle thought may
Less idle thoughts, self-known no truer, dismay.


Scheme ABACDEDFGHBHII
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111111 101011110101 01110111011 1111000111 1111110101 1101001101 1011011111 11011111001 0101011011 01011111100 11111111 010111010100 111010011011 11011111001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 111
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 505
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
8

Fernando Pessoa

Biography of Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935): One of the most prominent modernist poet of the Portuguese language. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He published poems under his real name and dozens of other personas. Apart from Fernando Pessoa himself (“ele mesmo”), the most famous ones are: Alberto Caiero, Álvaro de Campos e Ricardo Reis; each one with his own personality, mannerisms and profession: Álvaro de Campos (an engineer, who had been educated in England; influenced by symbolism); Ricardo Reis (a physician, a pastoral poet); Alberto Caieiro (a countryman and poet, who wrote simple verses). more…

All Fernando Pessoa poems | Fernando Pessoa Books

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