John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
614 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 614 |
| AUTHOR: | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| QUOTATION: | 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: The poet’s eye, in a 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. 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! |
| ATTRIBUTION: | A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Act v. Sc. 1. [text] |
| WORKS: | William Shakespeare Collection. |