Marcum, Margaret

“Midsummer Night’s Poems”—as the thesis’ title suggests—is based on Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The thesis’ poems reflect a very dream-like state of progression, starting with overall harmony in terms of relationships and followed by the consequences resulting from immature love’s fickle nature. The poems, however, are not meant to be read as grave or humorless even though their tone is sometimes overdramatized. The poems’ tone is lighthearted, while engaging the suffering of love’s hardships. It keeps the reader’s perspective comparable to Bottom’s. The thesis’ message is that we should not take ourselves so seriously. Finally, the thesis’ poems act as a mirror to Shakespeare’s play since common themes emerge in both. In sum, the thesis’ tone shadows the lightheartedness of the play’s and yet conveys that while “The course of true love never did run smooth,” true love always finds a way to bring us peace.