Question

read the lines from act i, scene v of romeo and juliet
romeo. to juliet if i profane with my unworthiest hand
this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

juliet: good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
which mannerly devotion shows in this;
for saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch,
and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss.

which statement about the structure of these lines is true?
○ juliets lines make up one couplet, which uses an abab rhyme scheme
○ juliets lines make up one stanza, which uses an aabb rhyme scheme.
○ romeos lines make up one quatrain, which uses an abab rhyme scheme
○ romeos lines make up one sonnet, which uses an aabb rhyme scheme

Explanation:

1. Analyze Romeo's lines: "If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."
2. A quatrain is a four - line stanza. Romeo's lines have four lines, so it's a quatrain.
3. Check the rhyme scheme: The end - words of the lines are "hand" (line 1), "this" (line 2), "stand" (line 3), "kiss" (line 4). "hand" and "stand" rhyme (a), "this" and "kiss" rhyme (b), so the rhyme scheme is abab. Juliet's lines do not match the descriptions in options A and B, and Romeo's lines are not a sonnet (a sonnet has 14 lines) and do not have an aabb rhyme scheme. So the correct statement is about Romeo's lines being a quatrain with an abab rhyme scheme.

Answer:

C. Romeo’s lines make up one quatrain, which uses an abab rhyme scheme