Sonnet 129: Th'Expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame

episode

SONNETCAST – William Shakespeare's Sonnets Recited, Revealed, Relived not yet transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet Upvotes decide what gets transcribed next — 0 so far. Sign in to upvote

Related

recent transcribed audio

ON-AIR 🟢 - Poo-tane Gas 50 min · 23 Sep 2026 · The Morning Rumble

Lemon LIVE at 5: Trump's Attack on the Media is an Attack on Democracy 57 min · 23 Sep 2026 · The Don Lemon Show

Iran's President Addresses the UN General Assembly 3 min · 23 Sep 2026 · Fox News Hourly Update

NPR News: 09-23-2026 6PM EDT 5 min · 23 Sep 2026 · NPR News Now

Matheson on Guerrero Jr.'s contract comments, his season performance and the optics of the statement 10 min · 23 Sep 2026 · OverDrive

H3 Tim Grunhard 39 min · 23 Sep 2026 · The Program

Report any issue

Source

Recorded27 Apr 2025

Publisheranchor.fm ↗

Handlerec:7831561

Show notes

Sonnet 129 is the most explicitly sexual, and therefore sexually explicit, poem in the collection so far, and it is the first to betray a deep unease on William Shakespeare's part with his own desire for his mistress. The language he employs to characterise the sexual act with her oscillates from ecstasy of expectation to post-coital depression, even disgust, with a vocabulary in-between that is reminiscent more of a war zone than of a romantic roll in the hay.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Sign in