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

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABACDADAAEAEED
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 606
Words 107
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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…

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