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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 2Scene 3
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"tomb" and "womb"
Metaphor
Act 2,
Scene 3
Lines 9-14

An explanation of the “earth” metaphor in Act 2, Scene 3 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Friar Laurence

The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb;
What is her burying grave, that is her womb.  
And from her womb children of diverse kind
We, sucking on her natural bosom, find;
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different.

Mother earth is nature's womb, but is also nature's tomb, where we bury the dead.