Many consider William Shakespeare’s sonnets to be some of the most beautiful and powerful love lyrics written in English literature, although their cast of characters and their relations to him remain a mystery. Sonnet 18 is Shakespeare’s most famous, as he shares the beauty of his beloved and uses the season of summer to symbolize the sense of time, as an enemy of love, because time causes beauty to fade. Uniquely, Sonnet 18 addresses a young man, which was uncommon in Elizabethan England and the first sonnet not to directly encourage the young man or “Fair Youth,” to have children. In contrast, Sonnet 129 falls into the “Dark Lady” section, which focuses on a complex woman and struggles with the idea of sexual desires. However, Sonnet 129 does not mention the mistress, but angrily attacks the sin of lust warning humans of lustful dangers. Every major aspect of Sonnet 18 and 129 differ, but both show…show more content… Shakespeare uses the perfect participles “had” to express the accomplished action of lust and the word “having” expresses the present ongoing experiences, linking the past with the present (Brinton). Additionally, Shakespeare’s unique way of using contrasting words and prepositional phrases within the sonnet express both the before-action and in-action periods of lust. The past participle, “perjured,” “swallowed” and “proposed” serve as adjectives in the sonnet and the sonnet’s only simile “as swallowed bait, /on purpose laid to make the taker mad”, serves as a footnote on how lust is despised in its after stage (Brinton). It is easy to see why Sonnet 129 is popular due to its moral implications. Engaging in a senseless act of lust will probably last longer than the actual pleasure or even the act itself leading to pleasure. Every action has consequences and often they can be just so severe that they can last a