# Juliet: Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds

> What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/monologues/gallop-apace
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

From [Romeo and Juliet](https://www.offbook.com/plays/romeo-and-juliet) by William Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 2.

## What is happening

Earlier today Juliet secretly married Romeo at Friar Laurence’s cell. The plan for tonight is simple: once it is dark, Romeo will climb up to her room on a rope ladder (the “cords” of line 34) that the Nurse has gone to fetch, and they will spend their wedding night together. Juliet is not yet fourteen.

What she does not know is that in the scene just before this one, Tybalt killed Romeo’s friend Mercutio and Romeo killed Tybalt, her cousin. The Prince has banished Romeo from Verona and warned that if he is found there, he will die.

Juliet is alone, and the speech is pure longing: she orders the sun to set and calls on night to come and bring Romeo with it. It is often staged in her bedroom. At the end the Nurse comes in, wringing her hands, with the rope ladder and the news, and within a few lines Juliet’s joy turns to horror.

- Lines: 35
- Words: 276
- At 150 words a minute: 1.8 minutes
- Form: Verse

## The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 7 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

### Lines 1–4: Hurry up, sun

1. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
2. Towards Phoebus’ lodging: such a waggoner
3. As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
4. And bring in cloudy night immediately.

**In plain English:** Gallop faster, you fiery horses that pull the sun, towards the west where the sun god goes to bed. A reckless driver like Phaethon would whip you there and bring on the dark right now.

**Acting note:** Start at full speed. The galloping horses, the whip and the lines that run on into each other give the opening its push. She is giving orders to the sky.

### Lines 5–10: Spread the curtain

5. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
6. That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo
7. Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen.
8. Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
9. By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
10. It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,

**In plain English:** Spread your thick curtain, night, you who make love possible, so that any watching eyes close and Romeo can leap into my arms without being seen or talked about. Lovers can see well enough by their own beauty, and if love is blind, then night suits it best. At the end of line 10 she starts a new call: come, sober night.

**Acting note:** The scale drops from the whole sky to a curtained bed. “These arms” is close and personal. Let the secrecy feel precious, not guilty.

### Lines 11–16: Teach me

11. Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
12. And learn me how to lose a winning match,
13. Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
14. Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks,
15. With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
16. Think true love acted simple modesty.

**In plain English:** Come, night, like a serious widow dressed all in black, and teach me how to lose a game that I win by losing, played by two virgins, him and me. Cover my blushing cheeks with your black cloak, the way a falconer hoods a restless hawk, until shy love grows bold and feels that making love is simply innocent.

**Acting note:** She is frank about both desire and nerves. The hawk words (hood, unmann’d, bating) picture her blush as a wild young bird fluttering out of control. Play the nerves honestly and don’t make it coy.

### Lines 17–19: Come, Romeo

17. Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
18. For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
19. Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.

**In plain English:** Come, night. Come, Romeo, you who are daylight in the dark: you will lie on night’s wings, whiter than fresh snow on a raven’s back.

**Acting note:** Three calls to come in a single line. Night was a hiding place; now Romeo is the light inside it. Let the image of snow on black feathers be delicate.

### Lines 20–25: Little stars

20. Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
21. Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
22. Take him and cut him out in little stars,
23. And he will make the face of heaven so fine
24. That all the world will be in love with night
25. And pay no worship to the garish sun.

**In plain English:** Come, gentle, loving, dark-browed night, and give me my Romeo. And when he dies, take him and cut him into little stars, and he will make the sky so beautiful that the whole world will fall in love with night and stop worshipping the gaudy sun.

**Acting note:** The famous image, and she is delighted with her own daring. The audience hears “when he shall die” with a chill that she cannot feel. Some editions print “when I shall die” here, and “die” could also carry a sexual meaning in Shakespeare’s English.

### Lines 26–31: Bought but not moved in

26. O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
27. But not possess’d it, and, though I am sold,
28. Not yet enjoy’d: so tedious is this day
29. As is the night before some festival
30. To an impatient child that hath new robes
31. And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,

**In plain English:** I have bought a great house of love but not yet moved in, and I have been sold but not yet enjoyed. This day drags on like the night before a holiday for an impatient child who has new clothes and isn’t allowed to wear them yet. Oh, here comes my Nurse.

**Acting note:** The images come right down to earth: a house, a child, a new outfit. She can laugh at her own impatience here. The Nurse arrives in the middle of line 31 and cuts the thought off.

### Lines 32–35: News

32. And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
33. But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence.
34. Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords
35. That Romeo bid thee fetch?

**In plain English:** And she brings news. Anyone who even says Romeo’s name sounds like heavenly music to me. Now, Nurse, what news? What have you got there? The rope ladder that Romeo told you to fetch?

**Acting note:** Juliet expects good news. Stay bright here: the joy in “every tongue that speaks” is what makes the Nurse’s answer hit so hard.

## Hard words

| Word | Line | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *apace* | 1 | quickly |
| *fiery-footed steeds* | 1 | the burning horses that pull the sun’s chariot across the sky |
| *Phoebus’ lodging* | 2 | the west, where Phoebus (the sun god) goes to rest at sunset |
| *waggoner* | 2 | chariot driver |
| *Phaethon* | 3 | son of the sun god, who lost control of the sun’s chariot when he drove it |
| *close curtain* | 5 | concealing curtain, like the hangings round a bed |
| *runaways’ eyes may wink* | 6 | a famously unclear phrase: the eyes of anyone wandering about (perhaps the sun’s horses) will close |
| *untalk’d of* | 7 | without being gossiped about |
| *civil* | 10 | grave, sober |
| *learn me* | 12 | teach me |
| *maidenhoods* | 13 | virginities |
| *Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks* | 14 | falconry terms: cover (as a falconer hoods a hawk) my untamed blood, fluttering in my cheeks as a blush |
| *mantle* | 15 | cloak |
| *garish* | 25 | too bright, gaudy |
| *mansion* | 26 | a large, grand house |
| *cords* | 34 | the rope ladder Romeo will climb |

## How to perform it

- Play the want. Juliet wants night, and Romeo, to arrive now, and every image is a way of pushing time forward. The speech is a run of summons: “Come, civil night” (line 10), “Come, night; come, Romeo” (line 17), “Come, gentle night” (line 20). Let each call be more urgent and more personal than the last.
- Don’t play the tragedy. The audience knows Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished; Juliet does not. The happier she is, the harder the Nurse’s news will land. Let the dark ironies, like “when he shall die,” pass without a knowing look.
- Ride the verse. This is blank verse whose lines keep running into the next, and the thoughts get longer as she goes (a Cambridge reader counts four lines, then about five and a half, then six and a half). Breathe at the full stops, at lines 4, 7, 10, 16, 19 and 25, not at every line end, and let the run-on lines carry her breathlessness.
- Own the desire. This is a wedding-night speech, and she is open about sex and about her fear. One Cambridge scholar calls it Juliet’s epithalamium, a wedding song usually given to the bridegroom. Avoid both extremes, the giggling child and the knowing seductress: she is a very young bride, certain and scared at once.
- Bring it down to earth at line 26. After horses, curtains, snow and stars, the last images are a house, a child and new clothes. That drop in scale is funny and touching, and it reminds us how young she is.
- Common mistakes: reciting it as a lovely poem to the sky, with nothing to win; rushing the little stars; and starting so loud that there is nowhere left to go. Begin with urgency, but save the biggest release for lines 20 to 25.

## Using it in an audition

This suits actors who can play a young woman wildly in love; Juliet is not yet fourteen, so youth and impatience matter more than polish. The full speech runs about 1.8 minutes at 150 words a minute. The 90-second cut on this page ends at line 33, “heavenly eloquence,” which is also where Acting Coach Scotland’s version stops, and it is the best audition ending, because lines 34 and 35 only make sense with a Nurse in the room. The 60-second cut ends at line 25 on “the garish sun,” a clean, rising finish right after the little stars. If you want to avoid the Nurse altogether, stop at “And may not wear them” in line 31. For contrast, pair it with something sharp and comic, such as Rosalind’s “And why, I pray you?” or Helena’s “How happy some o’er other some can be!”

Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

## How long it runs

| Pace | Words a minute | Run time |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Deliberate | 130 | 2.1 minutes |
| Conversational | 150 | 1.8 minutes |
| Brisk | 170 | 1.6 minutes |

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the [monologue timer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/monologue-timer). Cut points that stop at a full sentence: near 60 seconds (after line 25) and 90 seconds (after line 33).

## Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the [first-letter memorizer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer).

```text
G a, y f-f s,
T P’ l: s a w
A P w w y t t w,
A b i c n i.
S t c c, l-p n,
T r’ e m w, a R
L t t a, u o a u.
L c s t d t a r
B t o b; o, i l b b,
I b a w n. C, c n,
T s-s m, a i b,
A l m h t l a w m,
P f a p o s m:
H m u b, b i m c,
W t b m; t s l, g b,
T t l a s m.
C, n; c, R; c, t d i n;
F t w l u t w o n
W t n s o a r b.
C, g n, c, l, b-b n,
G m m R; a, w h s d,
T h a c h o i l s,
A h w m t f o h s f
T a t w w b i l w n
A p n w t t g s.
O, I h b t m o a l,
B n p i, a, t I a s,
N y e: s t i t d
A i t n b s f
T a i c t h n r
A m n w t. O, h c m n,
A s b n; a e t t s
B R n s h e.
N, n, w n? W h t t? t c
T R b t f?
```

## More from Romeo and Juliet

- [How many lines does Juliet have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/romeo-and-juliet/juliet)
- [Romeo: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/but-soft-what-light)
- [Juliet: ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy (What’s in a name?)](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/whats-in-a-name)
- [Mercutio: The Queen Mab speech](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/queen-mab)
- [Juliet: Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again (the potion speech)](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/farewell-god-knows-when-we-shall-meet-again)
- [Every role in Romeo and Juliet, by size](https://www.offbook.com/plays/romeo-and-juliet)

More lists: [Shakespeare monologues](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/shakespeare), [Monologues for women](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/for-women), [Dramatic monologues](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/dramatic), [Monologues for teens](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/for-teens).

## Sources

- [Gallop apace…. (3.2.1-4) | Slow Shakespeare (University of Cambridge, Faculty of English)](https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slow-shakespeare/2018/06/10/gallop-apace-3-2-1-4/)
- [Bating blood, and love (strange but true) (3.2.10-16) | Slow Shakespeare (University of Cambridge, Faculty of English)](https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slow-shakespeare/2018/06/12/bating-blood-and-love-strange-but-true-3-2-10-16/)
- [Little stars…. (3.2.20-25) | Slow Shakespeare (University of Cambridge, Faculty of English)](https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slow-shakespeare/2018/06/14/little-stars-3-2-20-25/)
- [Juliet’s Monologue from Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2: “Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds” (Acting Coach Scotland)](https://www.actingcoachscotland.co.uk/juliets-monologue-from-act-3-scene-2-of-romeo-and-juliet)
- [Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 2 | Shakespeare Navigators (Eastern Washington University)](https://www.shakespeare-navigators.ewu.edu/romeo/T32.html)

## Questions actors ask

### How long is Juliet’s Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds speech?

35 lines and 276 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.8 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 2.1 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

### Is it a good audition monologue?

This suits actors who can play a young woman wildly in love; Juliet is not yet fourteen, so youth and impatience matter more than polish. The full speech runs about 1.8 minutes at 150 words a minute. The 90-second cut on this page ends at line 33, “heavenly eloquence,” which is also where Acting Coach Scotland’s version stops, and it is the best audition ending, because lines 34 and 35 only make sense with a Nurse in the room. The 60-second cut ends at line 25 on “the garish sun,” a clean, rising finish right after the little stars. If you want to avoid the Nurse altogether, stop at “And may not wear them” in line 31. For contrast, pair it with something sharp and comic, such as Rosalind’s “And why, I pray you?” or Helena’s “How happy some o’er other some can be!”

### What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.

## How we count

Counts are computed from the full text of the [Standard Ebooks edition](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/romeo-and-juliet) (public domain; retrieved 2026-10-08). Words are every spoken word, with stage directions removed. Lines are verse lines as printed, plus prose at 10 words a line, because prose has no fixed line breaks; editions differ, so other sources give slightly different line counts. Time is words at 140 words a minute, before pauses and stage business. A role is counted in a scene when it speaks there. To count a script that is not in the library, paste it into the [script line counter](https://www.offbook.com/tools/script-line-counter).