Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 129” is referred to earlier as a poem of disgust or revulsion. The poem is full of expressively ugly sounds.
129
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and, till action, lust?
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame.
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoyed no sooner but despised 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.
Composition of a poem in which the lines end with the words listed in the order shown below: These words made me think of an old cowboy movie. Of course they never put this one on TV.
She was a maid demure and saintly quiet
The cowboy could not help but steal a kiss
The days were warm and Spring was all a riot
They dared to cross the dangerous abyss
He led her to the quaking aspen trees
Greened up anticipating sunny June
Intoxication swelled from blooming Peas
As he gently stroked the flower he would Prune
The wine was served in pewter, lacking Crystal
The service was on Sunday in the Bar
The preacher held a bible and a Pistol
The father of the cowboy played Guitar
And so sweet Macy May was finely Brooded
At summer’s end this story was concluded
One line of perfectly regular iambic pentameter.
I wish I had a place of mine alone
A line of iambic pentameter that uses a pyrrhic foot, a line of iambic pentameter that uses a spondee, a line of iambic pentameter that uses a trochaic foot, and a line of iambic pentameter that uses an anapestic foot.
With his bottle in his wobbly shaking hand (anapest)
The poet swayed and stood his last bad stand (spondee)
His stanzas showed his melancholic mindset (trochee)
That as he drowned in alcohol he did forget, (Phyrric)