in the vague, dream-like East. In this area, legends, myths, and impossible stories originate. This placed is more commonly called the dream world. The East exists both during and after sleep. The fairies bring the stories to you from the East. The fairies never think and love, which explains all of the deceit and odd events that go on during the play. This is acceptable in their world, because all the laws that govern the world of reality have no existence in the dream world. The lovers fall between these two worlds and are affected by both. The fairies make fools of the lovers, because humans are no accustomed to the fairys realm. In the real world, Hermia is sensible and Lysander is reasonable. They want to be together even against Egeus commands, which is reasonable thinking. As soon as the two are alone, imagination takes control of them and they are blinded as to the misfortunes that are bound to cross the course of true love. This causes them to run away. (Scott 382-385) Mark van Doren explains the language and poetry in A Midsummer Nights Dream as an immense expanse of Shakespeares extraordinary poetic imagination. This imagination is vast enough to house fairy realms and the world of reality, including all the peculiar manifestations of either place. Also the ability to describe the separate and often quite dissimilar regions of the plays universe by drawing on the rich resources of poetry. The words moon and water dominate the poetry of the play. (McIntosh 3) four happy days bring in another moon: but, O, me thinks, how slow. This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires (McIntosh 1-3). As a result of their enormous allusive potential, these images engender am entire network of interlocking symbols that greatly enrich the text. The moon, water, and wet flowers conspire to extend the world of the play until it is as large as all imaginable life. The moon and water also explain the plays mystery and naturality. The lovers fall in...
