This comedy was composed by William Shakespeare in 1593 -95 and is divided in five acts, written in prose and verses. All the actions are narrated by dialogues.
This comedy belongs to the Shakespeare production's period called "Great Comedies".
Shakespeare based parts of the play on The Knight's Tale, by Geoffrey Chaucer and Metamorphoses by Ovid.



It was published in 1600 and 1619 quarto editions and then in 1623 as part of the First Folio, the first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays.
We don't know exactly when he was first performed, but the first performance known took place at Court on 1 January 1605.

Structure

Use of Couplets
Sometimes characters speak in couplets. (two successive lines rhyming). Here are three examples:
    ''Captain of our fairy band,
     Helena is here at hand; 
    And the youth, mistook by me,
     Pleading for a lover's fee. 
    Shall we their fond pageant see? 
    Lord, what fools these mortals be''   (Puck: 3. 2. 116-121)
    ''Now, until the break of day,  
    Through this house each fairy stray.  
    To the best bride-bed will we,  
    Which by us shall blessed be;  
    And the issue there create 
    Ever shall be fortunate.'' (Oberon: 5. 2. 33-38) 

''O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine !
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss! ''(3. 2. 144-151)

Use of the language

 Speech varies according to the characters involved: Teseo and Ippolita speak in blank verse; the lovers in, and even the play Pyramus and Thisbe has a metre of its own. The fairies usually employ rhymed verses.


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