Sonnet CXXIX
The expense of spirit in a waste of shameIs lust in action: and till action, lustIs perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame,Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight;Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait,On purpose laid to make the taker mad:Mad in pursuit and in possession so;Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme;A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;Before, a joy propos’d; behind a dream.All this the world well knows; yet none knows wellTo shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Words in this poem
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- taker n.
- One who takes or receives; one who catches or apprehended.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXIX is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXXIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-129.html, id L00147.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXIX is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG shameA · lustB · blameA · trustB · straightC · hadD · baitC · madD · soE · extremeF · woeE · dreamF · wellG · hellG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The expense of spirit in a waste of shame | 10 | ·˘/·/····· |
| Is lust in action: and till action, lust | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Is perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust; | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight; | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Past reason hunted; and no sooner had, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| On purpose laid to make the taker mad: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Mad in pursuit and in possession so; | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Before, a joy propos’d; behind a dream. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| All this the world well knows; yet none knows well | 10 | ·········· |
| To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. | 10 | ···/······ |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 5
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 1 Expense. Expenditure. Cf. 94. 6 above.
- Line 2 Lust. The subject of the sentence.
- Line 9 Mad. The quarto has " Made ; " corrected by Gildon.
- Line 10 Had, having, etc. For the grammar, cf. T. and C. ii. 2. 263 and Ham. i. 2. 158.
- Line 12 A dream. Cf. R. of L. 212.
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