<P> 8 12 14 </P> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td>--William Shakespeare </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Sonnet 129 is one of the 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare . The 154 sonnets are typically divided between the "Fair Youth" sonnets (1--126) and the "Dark Lady" sonnets (127--152). There is no evidence that this division follows the chronology of the sonnets . The composition date is unknown but it was published along with the rest of the sonnets in the 1609 Quarto . </P> <P> Sonnet 129 is one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets and centers on the idea of the human mind and its primal urges . The sonnet consists of an unknown narrator having an internal mediation with himself about his sexuality; he fears it and harvests feelings of self - disgust for having such desires . "Omne animal post coitum triste est" is a Latin saying that is often quoted in association to sonnet 129 . The phrase literally translates into "after sex, every animal is sad ." That is the message the sonnet conveys . Shakespeare builds up the sonnet with imagery and desire, and ends it with the feeling of being a victim to lust, as well as the feelings of defeat and disappointment that ensue after the act is done and the desire is no longer there . "Sonnet 129 fixes and deprecates lust with...murderous precision" and Shakespeare leaves us questioning our own primal urges . </P>

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame theme