Download The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Prologue

Name _____________________________________________
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Prologue Annotation Tool
First Read:


Circle the text that describes the similar backgrounds of Romeo and Juliet.
Underline clues that tell what will happen to the characters.
Second Read:

Make it modern. In the space after each line, write a modern description of the line. See the first line as an
example. What is Shakespeare saying with the prologue?
Two households, both alike in dignity,
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Name _____________________________________________
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Prologue Annotation Tool
First Read:


Circle the text that describes the similar backgrounds of Romeo and Juliet.
Underline clues that tell what will happen to the characters.
Second Read:

Make it modern. In the space after each line, write a modern description of the line. See the first line as an
example. What is Shakespeare saying with the prologue?
Two households, both alike in dignity,
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.