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"turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out"
Language
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 1-2

Discussion of a religious metaphor distinguishing our physical bodies and our spiritual souls in myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 1.

[The Capulet’s party has ended, and Romeo is headed home down a lane that runs alongside the orchard behind the Capulet mansion. A wall separates the lane from the orchard.]

Romeo

Can I go forward when my heart is here?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.

“Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is a common religious metaphor that distinguishes between our physical bodies and our spiritual souls. Romeo is using that metaphor when directing his physical body, his "dull earth," to go back to Juliet’s house because that’s where his heart and soul are. Notice the clever pun he makes with the word “earth.” He’s drawn toward Juliet just as “earth,” or dirt, is drawn by gravity to its own center, the “Earth’s” center.