Sonnet VIII.
Fernando Pessoa 1888 (Lisbon District) – 1935 (Lisbon)
How many masks wear we, and undermasks,
Upon our countenance of soul, and when,
If for self-sport the soul itself unmasks,
Knows it the last mask off and the face plain?
The true mask feels no inside to the mask
But looks out of the mask by co-masked eyes.
Whatever consciousness begins the task
The task's accepted use to sleepness ties.
Like a child frighted by its mirrored faces,
Our souls, that children are, being thought-losing,
Foist otherness upon their seen grimaces
And get a whole world on their forgot causing;
And, when a thought would unmask our soul's masking,
Itself goes not unmasked to the unmasking.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 35 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABACDADAAEAEED |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 606 |
Words | 107 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet VIII." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/55215/sonnet-viii.>.
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