Name:_SAMPLE____________ Date:______________________
Period:______
Figurative Language Analysis
Quote and Citation:___”With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls; for stony limits cannot
hold love out,” (Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 66-67)._
Type of Figurative Language:_Metaphor______________________________________________
Subject/Object #1: Love
Subject / Object Compared to: Bird
Qualities
-Heart-warming
-Emotional Responses: Happiness, Excitement
Qualities
-Flies with wings for freedom
-Sometimes caged, sometimes perched
-Small, Light
Inference:
What meaning does Shakespeare create by comparing these two items?
_Shakespeare compares romeo’s love and desire for Juliet to a bird. A bird is light and flies around
free, and Juliet’s love makes Romeo feel as if his heart is light and free. Also, Juliet is on her stone
balcony in Act 2 Scene 2, and she is concerned with Romeo being seen, but just like a bird cannot
be caged, her “stony,” high balcony, cannot “hold [Romeo] out.” __
Why does Shakespeare use this particular device to create this meaning?
See purpose below.
Shakespeare uses a metaphor to allow the reader to make a connection between objects or ideas.
Shakespeare wants the reader or observer, to compare Romeo’s love and his position on the
balcony to a bird so that the reader can visualized a perched bird. Also, he wants the reader to
understand Romeo’s feelings of love make him feel like he can fly, similar to a bird.
Device Purposes:
● Metaphor: Metaphors are used to make the reader familiar with an unknown person, object,
idea or situation by directly comparing it to something familiar. This has a greater dramatic
impact on the reader than a simile.
● Simile: Similes also make comparisons between known and unknown objects, but are less
dramatic in effect.
● Personification: Personification is attributing human characteristics to non-living things, making
them more real to the reader.
● Hyperbole: Hyperboles are extreme exaggerations of a character’s’ feelings.
● Oxymoron: Oxymorons combines contradictory or opposing words to highlight a feeling of
conflict in a character.
● Pun: Puns are words with more than one meaning that when used both make sense in the
context of the line; puns enhance a clever or comedic tone.