The Dark Lady Sonnets

The final section is Shakespeare at his most raw. The speaker is obsessed with a woman he does not respect, cannot resist, and knows is unfaithful. Sonnet 129 — "Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame / Is lust in action" — is one of the most savage self-examinations in literature.

These poems refuse to romanticize desire. They describe what most love poetry pretends does not exist: wanting someone who is bad for you, knowing it, and being unable to stop. Shakespeare's honesty about the ugliest side of desire is what makes the sequence complete.