| Sonnet | Both prologues of Romeo and Juliet and the first dialogue of the lovers. |
| Foreshadowing | I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall,/ Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall. |
| Synecdoche | Now these days is the mad blood stirring.All hands on deckHow do you like my new wheels? |
| Monologue | Here were the servants of your adversary,And yours, close fighting ere I did approach.I drew to part them. In the instant cameThe fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,He swung about his head and cut the winds,Who, nothing hurt withal, hissed him in scorn.While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,Came more and more and fought on part and part,Till the Prince came, who parted either part. |
| Aside | Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this? |
| Tragedy | Romeo and Juliet die because of a combination of a flaw and fate. |
| Pun | Mercutio: That dreamers often lieRomeo: In bed asleep, while they do dream things true. |
| Heroic Couplet | For never was a story of more woeThan this of Juliet and her Romeo. |
| Dramatic Irony | Where I have learned me to repent the sinOf disobedient oppositionTo you and your behests, and am enjoinedBy holy Lawrence to fall prostrate hereTo beg your pardon. (falls to her knees)Pardon, I beseech you!Henceforward I am ever ruled by you. |
| prologue | Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie,And young affection gapes to be his heir.That fair for which love groaned for and would dieWith tender Juliet matched, is now not fair.Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,Alike bewitchèd by the charm of looks,But to his foe supposed he must complain,And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks.Being held a foe, he may not have accessTo breathe such vows as lovers use to swear.And she as much in love, her means much lessTo meet her new beloved anywhere.But passion lends them power, time means, to meet,Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. |
| Allusion | Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,Toward Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagonerAs Phaeton would whip you to the westAnd bring in cloudy night immediately.Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,That runaways’ eyes may wink, and RomeoLeap to these arms, untalked of and unseen. |
| Simile | It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/ As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear |
| Soliloquy | Farewell!—God knows when we shall meet again.I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veinsThat almost freezes up the heat of life.I’ll call them back again to comfort me.—Nurse!—What should she do here?My dismal scene I needs must act alone.Come, vial. (holds out the vial)What if this mixture do not work at all?Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?No, no. This shall forbid it. Lie thou there. |
| Personification | The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light,Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye,The day to cheer and night’s dank dew to dry,I must upfill this osier cage of oursWith baleful weeds and precious-juicèd flowers. |
| Oxymoron | Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,O anything, from nothing first create,O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!A damned saint, an honourable villain! |
| Alliteration | “The day to cheer and night’s dank dew to dry,From forth the fatal loins of these two foes; |
| Dramatic Foil | ROMEOAmen, amen. But whatever misfortunes occur, they can’t ruin the joy I feel with one look at her. All you have to do is join our hands with holy words, then love-destroying death can do whatever it pleases. It’s enough for me if I can call her mine.15 FRIAR LAWRENCEThese violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triumph die, like fire and powder,Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honeyIs loathsome in his own deliciousnessAnd in the taste confounds the appetite.Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. |
| Paradox | . I am the greatest, yet able to do least,/Yet most suspected, as the time and place/Doth make against me, of this direful murder;/And here I stand, both to impeach and purge/Myself condemned and myself excused. (Friar Lawrence, V, iii) |
| Blank Verse | Most of the play…Unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Situational Irony | The Capulets are expecting a marriage but they get a funeral.Romeo goes to the party to be in awe of Rosaline, but falls in love with Juliet |
Romeo and Juliet Literary term examples
September 8, 2019