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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 2
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Prose vs. Verse
Language
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 26-37

An explanation of prose used by the servants vs. verse used by the nobles in myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 2.

Capulet

Such comfort as do lusty young men feel
When well-apparelled April on the heel
Of limping Winter treads — even such delight
Among fresh fennel buds shall you this night
Inherit at my house. Hear all, all see                           
And like her most whose merit most shall be,
Which on more view, of many, mine being one,
May stand in number, though in reckoning none.
Come, go with me.
[To Servant, giving him a piece of paper]
                                 Go, sirrah, trudge about
Through fair Verona; find those persons out
Whose names are written there, and to them say,
My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.

Notice that the servants in the play speak in ordinary prose whereas the nobles all speak in verse. When the dialogue is in verse, we observe the normal convention of capitalizing the first word of every line, whether it’s the beginning of a sentence or not.