The more I have, for both are infinite. William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-- William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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Romeo’s imagistic language helps paint the setting. (“The Theatre,” where Romeo and Juliet was likely first performed, would not have had the ability to stage nighttime performances.)
On “blessed moon,” compare “blessed night” below.
–
Levenson (ed.), Jill L. (2000). Romeo and Juliet. The Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford World’s Classics).
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears! William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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I do beseech thee-- William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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Stay but a little, I will come again. William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 (The Balcony Scene)
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Juliet’s image is of a bird owner who accidentally kills her pet—by petting it too hard? overfeeding it? (Compare Lennie and his puppy in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.)
Romeo and Juliet are both young, vulnerable, and in danger; and there is a sense in which they love each other to death. See Friar Laurence in 2.6: “These violent delights have violent ends.”
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Recall that in 1.1, 9 a.m. was the time at which Romeo was feeling lovesick and sorry for himself, and sighed to Benvolio: “sad hours seem long.” Is he now setting the 9 a.m. time as a kind of inside joke with himself, in defiance of his earlier state? Either way, the contrast drives home Romeo’s stark change of mood.
As a matter of absolute fact, Shakespeare’s language is the most beautiful music ever written, and this music is the key to the meaning of all of his plays.