The well known balcony scene that recalls the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Traditionaly a night scene, the balcony episode is pictured here in bright daylight.
"As daylight doth a lamp, her eyes in Heaven / Would through the airy region stream so bright / That birds would sing and think it were not night."
And as Romeo stands in the rose-scented garden beneath the balcony of Juliet, he declaims... "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It's the East, and Juliet is the sun."
The young lovers are surrounded by roses, the flower so often mentioned by Shakespeare in his plays. An emblem of love, life and all the most beautiful upon earth... But by its thorns, also a reminder of death and decay, awaiting all that lives. As writes the 17th century english poet Robert Herrick...
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, / Old time is still a-flying / And the same flower that smiles today, / Tomorrow will be dying."
"As daylight doth a lamp, her eyes in Heaven / Would through the airy region stream so bright / That birds would sing and think it were not night."
And as Romeo stands in the rose-scented garden beneath the balcony of Juliet, he declaims... "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It's the East, and Juliet is the sun."
The young lovers are surrounded by roses, the flower so often mentioned by Shakespeare in his plays. An emblem of love, life and all the most beautiful upon earth... But by its thorns, also a reminder of death and decay, awaiting all that lives. As writes the 17th century english poet Robert Herrick...
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, / Old time is still a-flying / And the same flower that smiles today, / Tomorrow will be dying."
