ABSTRACT
A remarkable fantasy, A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of the bestloved Shakespearean comedies. Probably written sometime between 1594 and 1596, that is, between Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice, Dream belongs to the playwright's early-middle period when Shakespeare revelled in lyricism. His poetic achievement in Dream may be equalled in the later works but is never surpassed. Here he creates atmosphere, in tum, charming, lush, and darkly erotic, through iterative imagery; distinguishes between character groups through elegantly patterned discourse; and employs phonic and rhythmic sound variations to make music out of language. The text, which exists in three versions differing primarily in the number of stage directions, draws on many different sources, but the delightful theatrical composite, like the poetic texture, is a triumph of originality.
