The 1637 Edition of this play was used as the copy text for the following edition. The First Edition (1597) and the 1609 edition were also referenced for meaning, spelling, translation and punctuation of the following edition:
Juliet: Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day,
It was the Nightingale and not the Larke
That pierce the fearful hollow of thine ear:
Nightly the things on that1 Pomegranate tree
Believe me love2, it was the Nightingale.
Romeo: It was the Larke, the Herald of the Morne,
And not the Nightingale. See love what envious freaks
Do lace the fevering clouds in yonder Earth.3
Night candles are burnt out and second day
Stands tiptoes on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
Juliet: That light is not daylight, I know it:
It is some Meteor that the Sun4 exhales,
And light thee on they way to Mantua.
Then stay awhile, thou shalt not go soon.
Romeo: Let me stay here, let me remain and die:
If thou wilt have it, I am content.
If upon5 that gray is not the Morning’s Eye,
It is the pale reflex of Cynthias brow.
If upon that it is the Nightingale that beares
The vault-like6 heaven high above our heads,
And not Larke the Messenger of Morning.
Come death and welcome, Juliet wills it.
What do you think of that, my love? Let’s talk. It’s not yet day.
Juliet: It is, it is. Be gone. Fly away.
It is the Larke that sings out of tune,
Straining harsh chords and unpleasing sharps.
To some, the Larke makes sweet division.
This doth not, for this divided us.
Some upon the Larke and loathed Toad change eyes.
I would that now they have changed voices, too.
Since are from arm her voice does frighten7.
Hunting thee hence with Hunters to the day,
So now be gone, more light and light is growing8.
Romeo: The more and more light, the more and more dark our woes get.
Farewell my love. One kiss and I’ll descend.
He goes down.
Juliet: Art thou gone my Lord, my Love, my Friend?
I must hear Fromm thee everyday, every hour:
For in an hour, there are many minutes,
Minutes are days, and will number them as such9
Ugh! By this count I shall be in for many years, if ever I see you again.
Romeo: Farewell, I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings love to thee.
Juliet: Do you think we shall ever meet again?10
Romeo: No doubt, no doubt, and all this woe shall pave the way11
For sweet discourse in the times to come.
References
[1] “Yon” is most closely translated to “that thing” according to OED
[2] The first example of “U” actually reading as “V”, thanks to Latin (Love vs. Loue)
[3] Spelled “Eaft” in the 1637 Edition, but is really the Olde English spelling of “Earth”
[4] Spelled “Sunne” on 1637 Edition, giving more weight, and a larger presence to the Sun than we give today.
[5] “Fay”, according to OED is most closely translated to “upon that”.
[6] Spelled “Vaultie”, which according to OED means “arching, and vault-like”
[7] Spelled “Affray” in the 1637 Edition, which most closely translates to “frighten, or to scare”.
[8] Author of this edition, David Lloyd in 2022 changed “it growes” to “is growing”.
[9] Editor David Lloyd reduced the number of words to communicate the same message. Nothing was lost on the way.
[10] The 1637 Edition read “Oh, thinkft thou we shall sever meet againe.” Editor David Lloyd added the question mark so it was more clear that she was asking Romeo a question.
11] The 1637 Edition read “and all this woe shall ferve…”, which didn’t make any sense, so it was edited in this edition, the 2022 version, to clarify its meaning.
Editorial Rationale
It took some time for me to automatically replace all the “u” letters with “v” letters. Once I could do that automatically, and once I had a solid understanding of “Yon” and “Fay”, reading the 1637 edition, and translating it to modern English, became easier. Whenever I was unclear about the meaning of a sentence, I read it aloud, which allowed me to take clues and context from surrounding words, which get vocalized just as much as the words I don’t understand. For example, in the sentence “Yon light is not day light, I know it…”, every word that is NOT “Yon” gives me context for what “Yon” means. By saying the whole sentence aloud, it became clear what word was missing: something like “that” or “there”. OED also helped me to define words I was unsure about.
One important decision I made, which may seem insignificant, is the choice to fully type out Juliet and Romeo’s names. In addition to fully typing out their names, I spelled Juliet with a “J”, rather than an “I”, as the 1637 edition does. The reason I fully typed out their names is because I think it looks better. There was no academic reason— no scholarly rationale. I simply liked the way it looked. I prefer the way it looks because having “Romeo” and “Juliet” take up more space on the page makes their lines easier to find. It makes sense that on the 1637 edition their names are abbreviated, but on a page with unlimited space, in 2022, it makes more sense to type/write out the longer, more thorough versions. Another example of my decision to write out the more thorough versions of Shakespeare’s texts is my editing of Romeo’s line: “What do you think of that, my love? Let’s talk. It’s not yet day.” Originally, this line was shorter, and had more Olde English, which seems to bridge letters and words together in ways that are hard to decipher as a Modern English speaker and reader. The one exception I made to this rule: to write everything out thoroughly, is my spelling of “Sun”. The 1637 edition spells “Sun” as “Sunne”, which is unfamiliar to a Modern English speaker or reader. To still pay respect to the longer version of the word “Sunne”, I made a note about it in my 4th footnote.
One aspect of editing which I had to abandon was color-coding. Learning WordPress shouldn’t have been hard for me, but I couldn’t figure out how to highlight single words. I could only highlight entire sentences. That wasn’t very useful, so I left my color-loving tendencies in my textual variants catalogue. Also, I had trouble linking my footnotes. I made the list, but I couldn’t make it so that when you clicked on the superscript numbers (1-11) you were directed to the corresponding number number on the page. I think that is a web-coding problem, which I don’t know how to solve.
The reason I liked the 1637 Edition most as my reference is because it had the best balance of being old (as heck), and still being easy to read. Because the scanned pages were less smudged and blurry than the first edition (1597), and the 1609 edition, it made the most sense to me to copy those words in to the blog post. If I wanted to really help out Shakespeare readers, I probably would have referenced the first edition more, to preserve original meaning as much as possible. I understand that the 1637 version is a sort of derivative of the first edition, which loses meaning and clarity on the way to being less blurry, smudged, and better translated.
Bibliography
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. The most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet as it Hath Beene Sundrie Times Publiquely Acted, by the Kings Maiesties Seruants at the Globe. Newly Corrected, Augmented, and Amended: London, Printed by John Windet] for Iohn Smethvvick, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard, in Fleetestreete vnder the Dyall, 1609. http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/most-excellent-lamentable-tragedie-romeo-iuliet/docview/2240922426/se-2?accountid=14405. (Accessed April 4, 2022)
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. An Excellent Conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet as it Hath been often (with Great Applause) Plaid Publiquely, by the Right Honourable the L. of Hunsdon His Seruants London, Printed by Iohn Danter and Edward Allde?], 1597. http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/excellent-conceited-tragedie-romeo-iuliet-as-hath/docview/2240913904/se-2?accountid=14405. (Accessed April 4, 2022)
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. The most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet as it Hath been Sundry Times Publikely Acted by the Kings Majesties Servants at the Globe. Written by W. Shake-Speare London, Printed by R. Young for John Smethwicke, and are to be sold at his shop in St. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet, under the Dyall, 1637. http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/most-excellent-lamentable-tragedie-romeo-juliet/docview/2240922513/se-2?accountid=14405.(Accessed April 4, 2022)