Loyalty Sonnet
I will be attentive to everything my love
Before, and with such zeal, and always, and so much
That even in the face of the greatest charm
Of him my thoughts become more enchanted.
I want to live it in every moment
And in your praise I will spread my song
And laugh my laugh and shed my tears
Your grief or your contentment
And so, when you come to me later
Who knows the death, anguish of those who live
Who knows loneliness, end of those who love
I can tell myself about the love (that I had):
That it is not immortal, since it is flame
But let it be infinite while it lasts.
Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Moraes he was considered the poet of lovers. A well-known name in Brazilian Literature, Vinicius was one of our most charismatic writers: his verses populate the popular imagination, and it is not necessary to be a great Literature connoisseur to appreciate their poems. The most curious thing about this great poet's Literature was the fact that he appropriated an ancient way of writing verses, giving this form a new life: Vinicius reinvented the art of writing sonnets.
Vinicius de Moraes was one of the Brazilian poets who most used the sonnet, an old form spread by Luís Vaz de Camões *
But you know what a sonnet is? It is a poetic composition formed by fourteen verses, usually with two quartets (two stanzas composed of four lines each) and two triplets (two stanzas composed of three lines each). It sounds simple, but the sonnet obeys a strict meter: each of the fourteen verses must have the same meter, that is, each must have the same number of poetic syllables. Generally, each verse has ten poetic syllables, so it is called the decasyllable verse. Some, however, are composed of twelve poetic syllables and are then known as dodecasyllables or Alexandrian verses. Got in doubt? See how this works by looking at the poem's scan:
From/you/to/my/to/mor/if/king/to/have/to
Before, / and / with / such / ze / it, and / without / pre, and / so / to
That/ same/mo in/fa/ce/do/mai/or/en/can/to
From / to / if / can / te / more / my / pen / to / men / to.
Two quartets: That/ro/ I saw/see it in/ to/from/to/mo/men/to
(Two stanzas, four verses) And in / your / lou / vor / I / es / pa / lhar / my / can / to
And/ laugh/ my/ laugh/ so and/ of/ sigh/sea/ my/ crying/ to
Your grief or your contentment
And so, / when / do / more / to / from / me / pro / cu / re
Who/knows/deaths, an/gús/aunt/of/who/saw/see
Who / knows / so / read / give / end / of / who / to / me
Two triplets: I / can / that / me / say / do / love / (that / you / see)
(Two stanzas, three verses) What/ not/ if/ is/ is/ is/ is/ is/ is/
But/that/if/ja in/fi/ni/to en/quan/to/du/re.
As you can see, each verse is constructed in a millimetric way so that it can fit like a decasyllable or a dodecasyllable. In addition to the metric, an element of the versification, another very important concept for the sonnet is sonority, that is, the placement of strong syllables (or stressed) in each of the verses. Thanks to the combination of syllables, the sonnet gets louder, that's why, when reading, you will probably realized that the sonnet is an extremely melodic text, which can be easily transformed into song. I bet you can imagine the work that writing a sonnet can be, can't you? How about trying?
*The image that illustrates the core of the article is on the CD cover The poet's word – Vinicius de Moraes, Sony Music Recorder.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
