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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 1
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"two more summers wither in their pride, ere...ripe to be a bride"
Metaphor
Act 1,
Scene 1
Lines 7-11

An example of a metaphor comparing the ripening of crops to Juliet's readiness to be a bride in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 2.

Sampson

A dog of the house of Montague moves me.

Gregory

To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand.
Therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.

Sampson

A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will        
take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.

Lord Capulet is making an agricultural metaphor. Let the crops pass twice more through their summertime prime, their “pride,” and begin to wither with the coming of autumn. Then, like a farmer’s crop, Juliet will be “ripe” for picking.