Download Romeo and Juliet

English I Honors
Romeo and Juliet
Wedding Vows – 40 points
At the end of Act 2, Romeo and Juliet turn to Friar Lawrence to marry
them. The audience never witnesses the nuptials since the ceremony does
not take place on stage. Now it is your chance to create what Shakespeare
“forgot” to include. You are to write the wedding vows of either Romeo,
Juliet or in the form of dialogue between both and they must be written in
the form of a sonnet.
Your sonnet must include:
 14 lines
 Shakespearean rhyme scheme
 Iambic pentameter (5 stressed beats, approximately ten syllables per
line)
 An original metaphor or simile
 Personification or oxymoron
 What the character vows to do for the other person
 Language and personality traits true to the character
 Words and phrases the character has already said (1-2 exact lines, in
quotes)
 Be careful of spelling, capitalization and punctuation
 Final copy must be decorated – mounted, graphics, nice font, an eyecatching border, etc. – Be creative!
Compositional risks include:
 Using a reversed sentence construction or reversed word
 Using archaic language correctly throughout
 Using an original conceit developed throughout the sonnet
 Using an original paradox
 Using an allusion
 Using an infinitive for emphasis (see grammar p. 742)
You will be scored on your content using the 4-pt scoring rubric.
Remember that an A is “exceeding the standard”. You must go above and
beyond the basic requirements. Your language will be just as important as
your content so be creative, but true to Shakespeare’s style.
Episcopal Church Exchange of Vows
In the name of God, I, (name), take you, (name), to be my wife, to have and to hold
from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
Lutheran Marriage Vow
I, [Groom's Name Here], take you, [Bride's Name Here], to be my (husband/wife), and
these things I promise you:
I will be faithful to you and honest with you;
I will respect, truth, help and care for you;
I will share my life with you;
I will forgive you as we have been forgiven; and I will try with you better to understand
ourselves, the world, and God; through the best and the worst of what is to come as
long as we live.
Sonnet XVIII
- William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet Writing Tips:
 Use a rhyming dictionary
 Use approximate rhyme if needed
 No love/dove rhyme scheme or other “Dr. Seuss” style
 A sentence can end in the middle of a line
 Be careful punctuation and capitalization