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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 2Scene 2
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"winged messenger"
Simile
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 25b-32

An explanation of the “winged messenger” simile in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet

                                                      Ay me!

Romeo

                                                                   She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a wingèd messenger of heaven
Unto the white upturnèd wond'ring eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him 
When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

In this simile, Romeo compares his looking up at Juliet to mortals looking up at an angel ("a winged messenger of heaven") striding across clouds, which are the puffy bosom of the sky.

(Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Guercino, circa 1655)