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Th'expense of Spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action, and till action, lust
Is perjurd, murdrous, blouddy, full of blame,
Savage, extream, rude, cruell, not to trust,
Injoyd no sooner but dispised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had,
Past reason hated as a swollowed bayt,
On purpose layd to make the taker mad.
Mad in pursut and in possession so,
Had, having and in quest to have extreame,
A blisse in proofe and prov'd a very wo,
Before a joy propos'd behind a dreame.
All this the world well knowes yet none knowes well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Commentary
Commentary
A savage poem, addressed to everybody in general.
A savage poem, addressed to everybody in general.
Changes made to the original text: Line 9 'Made In' changed to 'Mad in'. Line 11 'proud and' changed to 'prov'd a'.
In the first quatrain, the poet sets out the disadvantages of lust: it is murderous, bloody, full of blame, savage, cruel etc.
In the second quatrain, he continues the enumeration of the disadvantages of lust: in short it makes the lusting person stark mad.
In the third quatrain, the poet sets out further problems with lust: even when the lusting person achieves his goal, he finds that satisfaction evaporates like a dream.
In the final couplet, the poet points out that, although everybody knows the problems with lust, no-one knows how to avoid them.
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