Romeo and Juliet: The 'Kiss' Sonnet

Sonnets are short poems, usually about romantic (or courtly) love. Sonnets always consist of 14 lines and a Shakespearean sonnet always ends with two lines which rhyme. This is known as a rhyming couplet. This sonnet is unusual because it is for two voices.

Romeo Montague and his friends have gate-crashed Capulet’s party, wearing carnival masks – masked parties were common in Italy. Romeo and Juliet do not recognise each other and so do not know that their families are bitter enemies.

• Notice how Romeo and Juliet speak separately at the beginning of the sonnet, but as they speak they become more comfortable with each other, until by the end of the poem their voices intermingle, and they share the final couplet and their first kiss.
• The sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, which means it is easy to speak in the natural rhythms of English. Speak the lines aloud.
• This sonnet is spoken during a masked ball. Write a short song or poem about a first meeting.
• Write the letters which Romeo and Juliet might have written after the party.
• If you were directing this play, what actions would you expect of Romeo and Juliet in this scene?