1. Romeo and Juliet
Prologue Explication

2. The Sonnet

3. What is a sonnet?
A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme schemes.
The two most common types of sonnets are
Petrarchan, or Italian, sonnets
Shakespearean, or English, sonnets
A less common type of sonnet is the Spenserian sonnet.

4. The Shakespearean Sonnet
Four parts
three 4-line stanzas, called quatrains
one 2-line section, called a couplet
Rhyme scheme
abab for the first quatrain
cdcd for the second quatrain
efef for the third quatrain
gg for the couplet

5. PROLOGUE
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. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought 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.

6. Explication 1
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.

7. Explication 2
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

8. Explication 3
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought 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.

9. Questions: 1. What is the Prologue saying. 2
Questions: 1. What is the Prologue saying? 2. What information is being provided? 3. From the Prologue, do we know the outcome of the play? What is it?