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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 4Scene 5
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"rosemary on this fair corpse"
Allusion
Act 4,
Scene 5
Lines 79-83

An explanation of the rosemary reference in Act 4, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Friar Laurence

Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corpse; and, as the custom is, 
In all her best array bear her to church.
For though some nature bids us all lament,
Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment.

The rosemary plant was a symbol of remembrance, often placed with the body in a funeral and distributed to the mourners in attendance.