Download Romeo and Juliet Poetic Terms

Romeo and Juliet
Poetic terms
 Aubade – A song at dawn usually a lament as lovers
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part. See Act 3 scene 5
Rhyming Couplets – Used for dramatic effect to
round up the action and to signal to the audience
that the scene is at an end.
Juliet -‘O now be gone, more light and light it grows
Romeo –’More light and light, more dark and dark
our woes’ Act 3:5
Oxymorons – Usually indicate confusion and inner
conflict. ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’ Romeo Act
1:1
 Sonnet – 14 lines – 3 quatrains of poetry plus a
rhyming couplet.
The ‘pilgrims’ sonnet at the Capulet’s party is shared
between Romeo and Juliet which emphasised to an
Elizabethan audience how they are instantly
connected and in love. It reinforces the sense of
harmony between them.
An Elizabethan audience would also recognise that a
common motive for marriage was money. ‘He that
can lay hold of her/shall have the chinks’ Nurse - Act
1:5
Imagery
Imagery – simile and metaphor. In this play, light
imagery is often used. This emphasises the luminous
quality of Romeo and Juliet’s love. ‘O she doth teach
the torches to burn bright! ’ Act 1:5
As Romeo is transformed by his love for Juliet he
leaves the darkness(‘Shuts up his windows, locks fair
daylight out’) and literally throws himself into the
light to declare his love for Juliet – balcony scene
Act2:2.
Juliet is the ultimate source of light ‘It is the east, and
Juliet is the sun’ Act 2:2
Light Imagery
 Light imagery is also seen in the constant reference
to the stars. It is as if their love is fated ‘Star-crossed
lovers’. But as a star shines brilliantly, but briefly,
against the night sky, so Romeo and Juliet’s love will
prove ; against the harsh, dark face of a feuding
society it will only shine for a brilliant, beautiful
moment.
Romeo and Juliet is not a tragedy in the true sense –
usually a character displays a character flaw which
leads to their downfall. Here responsibility fort the
untimely end of the lovers rests outside the
characters – It is fate and the feud that leads to the
tragic end for the ‘star-crossed lovers’
Juliet’s speech Act II scene2
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other would still smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo doff thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
 This speech illustrates Juliet’s inner thoughts and
reflects someone wrestling with a problem.
 Written in unrhymed iambic pentameter –Blank
verse.
 Enjambment – syntax continues into the next line
– used here to show how Juliet is thinking aloud and
forming her ideas as she thinks.
 Caesura – Break in a line of poetry which breaks up
the rhythm–here Romeo completes the line which
adds to the sense of harmony.