Sonnet 129

In the second quatrain, the speaker introduces the imagery of “swallowed bait” (Line 7), using it as a symbol of how desire, consummation, and regret work together. He says that bait is purposefully “laid to make the taker mad” (Line 8), depicting lust as something that, like bait, lures the lover into something detrimental to his well-being. The lover then behaves in a “mad,” or irrational, manner in succumbing to lust. The results of having “swallowed” the “bait” of lust are clear: The lover’s former lust is immediately “[p]ast reason hated” (Line 7), speaking to the anger and disgust the speaker insists the lover will feel afterward. This imagery of bait and entrapment presents lustful behavior as animalistic and degrading, embodying the dangers that lurk within lust throughout the sonnet.

Loss of control, even to the point of madness, is an important motif in the poem. The speaker centers his depiction of lust upon the idea that, once the lover is in the throes of lust, he will lose all self-restraint and end up experiencing something he will later regret.

Even before the speaker makes the comparison to the baited animal, he introduces the idea of lust as an overwhelming and inhumane force.