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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 3Scene 5
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"hunting" and "hunt's-up"
Metaphor
Act 3,
Scene 5
Lines 27-35

An explanation of the hunting metaphor in Act 3, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet

It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us.                             
Some say the lark and loathèd toad changed eyes.
O, now I would they had changed voices too,
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day.
O, now be gone! More light and light it grows.

In this metaphor, the voice of the lark is hunting, or chasing Romeo away by singing the 'hunts-up," which is a song played to wake up hunters in the morning,  much like reveille is sounded every morning in the army.”