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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 2Scene 5
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"wind-swift Cupid wings"
Mythological Reference
Act 2,
Scene 5
Lines 1-11

An explanation of the allusion to “Cupid’s wings” in Act 2, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

[In front of the Capulet house.  Enter Juliet]

Juliet

The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse;
In half an hour she promised to return.
Perchance she cannot meet him — that's not so.
O, she is lame! Love's heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams
Driving back shadows over louring hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love,
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill
Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve             
Is three long hours, yet she is not come.

Juliet is describing the chariot of Venus, the goddess of love, being drawn by doves, whose wings evoke those of Venus' son, Cupid.

(Chariot of Venus, Pietro da Cortona, c. 1622)