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Two households, both alike in dignity*
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,*
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
[1]
5 From forth the fatal* loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed [2] lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured* piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
10 And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic* of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
[3] status wrangling ill-fated unfortunate business
[1] Where citizens’ hands are stained with the blood of their fellow citizens.
[2] Thwarted by the adverse influence of the stars appearing at the time of their birth, which controlled their destinies.
[3] What … mend: The actors will try to rectify whatever is missing or ill told in the Prologue.

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Unrhymed verse (i.e. poetry) written in iambic pentameter
Ten-syllable lines in which every second syllable is stressed
Well-suited to serious situations or higher-class characters; prose (i.e. NOT poetry) is often reserved for comedy and lower-class characters
/ / / / -
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
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It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
/

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90
ROMEO. [ to JULIET, touching her hand ] If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims,* [2] ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
[1] person on a journey for religious reasons
95
JULIET. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly* devotion shows in this;
For saints [3] have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers'* kiss.
proper pilgrims’
ROMEO. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET. Ay,* pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
100
ROMEO. O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
[4]
ROMEO. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
yes
[1] Romeo and Juliet here address each other in the form of a sonnet.
[2] Florio’s World of Words (1598) translates the Italian word romeo as “wanderer” or “palmer” (pilgrim to the Holy Land).
[3] Statues or pictures of saints, which attracted Catholic pilgrims. The Elizabethan Anglican Church held that the worship of such images was blasphemy.,
[4] Again identifying the saint as a picture or statue; it was believed that saints in heaven could intercede with God on behalf of the worshiper.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the go;
Coral is far more red than her lips' cheeks;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are ground;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her sun.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and rare,
But no such roses see I in her delight;
And in some perfumes is there more red
Than in the breath that from my mistress sound.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I compare
That music hath a far more pleasing reeks;
I grant I never saw a goddess head;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the dun:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as white
As any she belied with false know.
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DIRECTIONS: Working in pairs, use your knowledge of Shakespearean sonnet form to unscramble the last words of each line in the following sonnet!
Hints for unscrambling the sonnet:
Sonnets are often organized in much the same way as a paragraph…
1.
2.
3.
4.
Start with the first two lines that begin the sonnet. They will provide a generalization about the sonnet's subject.
Find the two concluding lines at the end of the sonnet. They will explain what the overall point of the sonnet is.
Group the lines by rhyme, then group them by subject. See if the end punctuation to each line provides some clues to the grouping. Your knowledge of sonnet structure will help you here!
Look at the beginning word in each line. If the line begins with a conjunction, such as and, but, or, nor, for, yet, or so, try to find the line before it that links with it in content or expresses contrast.
Want some brownie points?
Find the point in the sonnet at which the speaker’s tone shifts/changes.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.