What is the tone of Sonnet 129?

Theme of Sonnet 129 Overall tone of remorse, with the exception of mild mentions of the good that is expected from longing one in desire of pursuing a sexual act. Throughout the sonnet, Shakespeare mainly speaks of how one usually regrets after having sex from a longing state of lust.

What is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 theme?

The main idea in Sonnet 130 is to challenge those poets who use too much hyperbole when describing their loves. His almost insulting insistence on the ordinariness of his lover – that her “eyes are nothing like the sun” and her breath “reeks” – satirises the conventional use of over the top praise.

What does Shakespeare say at the beginning of Sonnet 129?

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker says that “lust in action”—that is, as it exists at the consummation of the sexual act—is an “expense of spirit in a waste of shame.”

What does expense of spirit mean in Sonnet 129?

The term ‘expense of spirit’ suggests a loss of vital force, and ‘in a waste of shame’ sets the scene for the emptied male, a victim of lust. Note the use of the enjambment, the first line flowing into the second which is halved abruptly and contains two repeat words: action and lust.

How many quatrains are there in the sonnet 129?

The English sonnet has three quatrains and a turn at the end of line twelve ending with a couplet. So, 14 lines in total and a rhyming scheme ababcdcdefefgg. Sonnet 129 is all about lust and the physical bodies of both male and female. It’s about sex, bodily functions and the potency involved in the act of love making.

How does the couplet change the tone of Sonnet 129?

In the case of sonnet 129, the couplet changes the tone. It includes expressions of regret and acceptance of how men have and will continue to live. It is much less argumentative than the opening lines. The poem follows a consistent rhyme scheme that conforms to the pattern of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and it is written in iambic pentameter.