Poetic Language in ‘Romeo + Juliet’
‘Romeo + Juliet’ is a play written by William Shakespeare earlier in his career, it showcases two ‘star-crossed lovers’ bid to be together. The play was originally shown at the Globe theatre and continues to be shown throughout the world. The play displays many themes throughout including individual versus society and love as a cause of violence as Romeo and Juliet fall in love through their families grudge. The play uses poetry to show the higher classes and prose to show the servants, this is just one of the many poetic techniques Shakespeare uses to show the meaning of the play.
Shakespeare uses many poetic devises to express the feelings and emotions of the characters. Different language is also used to show what the characters know. In the Balcony scene Romeo expresses, his love for Juliet, of how beautiful she is, using a metaphor to signify her beauty, ‘and Juliet is the sun’ this shows that Romeo sees Juliet as bright and important because the Sun is important in everyday life. Shakespeare also personification to show what Juliet knows, ‘My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words. Of thy tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.’ Juliet is telling Romeo that all though she has not heard a lot she knows that it is him that is hiding in her garden. Poetic language is used in the play to create mental images to help the reader understand the plot. Repetition is used to create the sense of enjoyment when Romeo describes the night as a ‘blessed, blessed night’ showing that the night has brought good luck and fortune in reference to his accepted proposal to Juliet. Short and snappy sentences are used to create the sense of urgency when Juliet is called by the nurse and also causes tension as to whether the nurse will find out about Romeo and Juliet, ‘I come!Anon!’
