Romeo and Juliet Act I – Literary Analysis
Identify the literary device(s) in the quotes below by putting the letter in the blank. Choose the one best answer for each quote.
_____1. “Why then, O brawling love,
O loving hate, O anything, of nothing first created!”
I. allusion II. oxymoron
III. Paradox
A.
I only D. I and II
E. II and III B.
II only
C.
III only
_____2. “No, for then we should be
colliers…”
“Aye, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.”
A.
personification
B.
pun
E.
extended metaphor
C. inversion
D. simile
_____3. “This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”
A. inversion
B. parallel structure
E. personification
C. pun
D. simile
_____4. “Marry, that ‘marry’ is this very theme
I came to talk of…”
A. pun D. metaphor
B. inversion E. apostrophe
C.
personification
_____5. “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold
_____6. “But he that hath the steerage of my course Direct my sail! On lusty gentlemen!”
A. allusion
B. irony
C. pun
D. metaphor
E. simile
_____7. “You are looked for and called for,
Asked for, and sought for…”
A. alliteration D. oxymoron
B. asyndeton E. parallel structure
C. pun
_____8. “Many a morning hath he there been seen, With tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew,”
A. personification D. inversion
B. allusion E. internal rhyme
C. simile
_____9. “When well-appareled April on the heel Of limping Winter treads…”
A. allusion D. pun
B. alliteration E. symbolism
C. personification
_____10.“But to himself so secret and so close, So far from the sounding and discovery, As is the bud bit with an envious worm Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep…”
A. inversion
B. soliloquy
C. pun
D. foreshadowing
E. oxymoron the air…”
A. metaphor D. allusion and metaphor
B. simile E. simile and personification
C. personification
Find 1, 3, 80-95 and read Lady Capulet’s speech, an extended metaphor in which she compares Paris to a book. Quote
FOUR of the “elements” of the comparison, giving the line number for each.
Ex. Line 82 – “Read o’er the volume”
11. line ____ “
12. line ____ “

13. line ____ “
14. line ____ “
15. Why does Lady Capulet compare Paris to a book in order to tempt Juliet to get to know him better? Please answer in complete sentences.
Read Romeo’s speech I, 5, 42-51.
16.
Looking at how the speech is written (the structure, not the subject matter), what makes these lines different from those that came before it?
17.
Why is this moment in the scene important enough to warrant this change?
Read the exchange between Romeo and Mercutio below. Match each underlined word to the best definition. All
definitions may not be used. Feel free to use a dictionary!
Romeo: Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Mercutio:
(18 – soles, 19 – soul)
(20 – soar, 21 – bound)
Romeo:
You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings
And soar with them above a common bound.
I am too sore enpierced with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers; and so bound
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe;
____18. A. leap
(22 – sore)
(23 – soar, 24 – bound)
(25 – bound)
____19. B. limited
____20.
____21.
____22.
C. fly
D. boundary
E. painfully sensitive
____23.
____24.
____25.
F. intense
G. the spiritual essence of life
H. the bottom of a foot or shoe