Shakespeare's Sonnet 129

                          129
Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame (a)
is lust in action, and, till action, lust (b)
is perjured, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame, (a)
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust; (b)
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight,(c)
Past reason hunted, and, no sooner had, (d)
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait (c)
On purpose laid to make the taker mad, (d)
Mad in pursuit, and in possession son, (e)
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme, (f)
A bliss in proof and proved a very woe, (e)
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream. (f)
     All this the world well knows, yet none knows well (g)
     To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. (g)

This sonnet's use of the feminine syllable to open and close with is catching. The words that get the use are, shame and hell. That pretty quickly sums up that the sonnet is wrapped in negative connotations. The content of the poem speaks very negatively about sex and the shame of lust. This sonnet feels like self-flagellation. Line two, /is lust in action, and till action, lust/ is the speaker saying that having sexual feelings is wrong compared to actual sex? The next two lines are some very harsh adjectives, 'murd'rous", "bloody", "savage", "extreme", "rude", "cruel" and all suggest that the speaker is ruminating over an event that has led them to feel very negatively towards their sexual feelings. Is this love scorned, gone cold, unrequited, or signs of a much darker event? Either way, Shakespeare forcing out two extra syllables to shake up the classic pattern feels very pointed. The rhyming couplet at the end is very cold /All this the world well knows, yet none knows well / To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell/. This is beyond bitter, it is a reality the speaker of the poem knows and seems to have let himself (allowed himself?) to be led astray. Is he more ashamed of his feelings or the fact that he got to that point when he knew "better"?

Protip: Do not look to Shakespeare for a pep talk on the birds and the bees if he is in a 129 mood.