Need's a name and work.... about life and society

Hello! I was listening to Shakespeare's sonnets this weekend, oddly enough. I don't see an example of what you wrote in his sonnets. Could you just send along an example? Thank you!

Here's another one, Sonnet 129. It's obviously about sex but again the grounding is in the interiority of the human.

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.

True, there is imagery of external landscape used in Sonnet 54, but I feel the speaker is deliberately explaining the process by which he imagines emotions as images of the natural world. The "natural world" of the poem is very much located within the speaker's own psychological sense of time and place rather than being an existent of "story". I suppose this device of Shakespeare's here is a forerunner of what John Ruskin would in 1856 call the "pathetic fallacy", or tendency of writers and artists to attribute to the natural world an interior human sensation or feeling.
Thanks. I enjoy your intelligent observations and opinions very much, Bibliobella. You raise this forum up a notch!

I'll retract most of what I wrote earlier about Sonnet 54. First, I'll address Sonnet 129, though. I think out of the two poems, this is the one where the most important part of the poem is the language used. It creates an atmosphere not only by word meaning, but word sound, and the look of the word in the line. The harshness of the words creates a wall between the speaker and the reader, which makes complete sense, because why would Shakespeare want someone to identify with this speaker. The distance adds to the solitude of the speaker, who obviously has issues. "Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight," the reader speaks as if he didn't have a choice to engage, but it doesn't seem like the speaker takes responsibility. I don't think the point of this poem is how does this person view sex, but rather Shakespeare presented the attitude of someone, so extreme, not just someone who got gilted recently, but the words are so harsh, the attitude so negative, it's like the speaker is a ultra-conservative religious icon who uses his position to manipulate thousands.

Now, with Sonnet 54, the language is secondary to the imagery, but the imagery is secondary to a primary human instinct to live the impossible dream, and think it's possible until reality hits. The poem invites the reader to come along for the ride, and leap tall buildings in a single bound or be Don Quixote. The last 6 lines are just blah, poor guy sulking. It is a testament to Shakespeare's use of language that the reader's bubble is burst just like the speaker, though. Still, I think the connection with the reader is primary.

With this in mind, back to the original poem presented by JesusTheTerrorist, , , , Self-evolution is growing, yes?, and whether we want to or not we have to incorporate our experiences into our lives or suffer bad headaches. The speaker in the poem would want to connect with the reader. So, JesusTheTerrorist would want language to focus on what is it about self-evolution that can be understood by any reader. The language should not distance the reader.