Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight,
Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed 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 proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
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In this stanza many of the words ands lines are written with absolute language. Absolute language is when a text is written in an exaggerated way. I feel that by writing this stanza in absolute language it adds a lot to the poem. The vibe of the poem changes and feelings becomes more intense. It also makes the poem more direct and intricate.
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The very first line has multiple meanings. Each meaning changes the poem in different ways. The idea that a spirits value is based of how shame it creates is very interesting. What creates shame is a very controversial topic. What brings shame to ones self or family changes on the persons ideology therefore this “value” system of a spirit is quite biast and controversial.
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These words are all full of hate and they all have a very bad ending to them. These words tell a story. A horrible story. Especially the word murd’rous which is a murder.
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For example if you acted rude cruel and savage, nobody would mess wth you but at the same time, nobody would trust you. These words all have only terrible endings and they put together has a word popping into my head which is evil. A person with these traits can only mean trouble.
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The accent on the last e of despised has an interesting meaning. one would think that the word would have another meaning but it doesn’t. the word is still despised. I feel like this word could be a symbol for the whole poem. In the sense that the poem has different interpretations but in the end it means one thing
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This line is very interesting and people may have discrepancies with what the poem is stating. People may feel that they know and understand the world and how it works. It’s like asking people if they know the meaning of life; some people have an answer and some don’t. There answer depends on the person and how they hold themselves.
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