THE
EXPENSE OF SPIRIT

Just
reading the title I expect the poem to be about physical love, because of the
word "spirit".

The sonnet
is arranged into fourteen lines and it follows the Elizabethan model: it is
organized into three quatrains and a couplet.

The poem is
about lust: in particular the speaking voice describes some qualities of lust
when it is a waste of spirit. The poet uses strong adjectives to describe lust:
it is something difficult to control. Lust is described as a waste of spirit,
because men shouldn't waste sperm, because it creates life.

In the
first two lines Shakespeare repeats the word "action" twice: it conveys the
idea of the physical implication;  in
addiction the reader can note the frequent use of "r" sound: it underlines the
strength of lust.

In the
second quatrain he says that lust is straight despised: it means that desire is
satisfied in a speed time.

Reading the
whole sonnet the reader finds out that lust is out of control and rationality
is powerless.

Syntax is important
in this sonnet: as a matter of fact there is a syntactical deviation in the
first line of the second quatrain (the line begins with the verb "enjoyed");
there is also an anaphoric construction in the 2^nd and in the 3^rd
lines (past reason...past reason), perhaps to highlight that lust creates a
temporary pleasure.

Verb choice
is important, too, because it suggests that the feeling of madness and the
desire of possession can't stop.

This sonnet
puts men at the centre of the world: the human being is now the privileged
object of investigation.