Act 5, Scene 1 (Theseus) First Speech

Question 1

1.

‘Tis strange my Theseus, that these
lovers speak of.

Answer 1

More strange than true: I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.​

Question 2

2.
More than cool reason ever comprehends.

Answer 2

The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt:​

Question 3

3.
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt:

Answer 3

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.

Question 4

4.

A local habitation and a name

Answer 4

Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!