PUCK  Their sense, thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,

Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;

For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch –

Some sleeves, some hats; from yielders, all things catch.

I led them on in this distracted fear,

And left sweet Pyramus translated there;

When in that moment, so it came to pass,

Titania waked, and straightway loved an ass.        (3.2.27-34)

In some ways, Puck’s long speech here is building to the punchline, and that’s where the joke most obviously lands for a modern audience, whether it’s a half rhyme or a full rhyme… But actually what he evokes here is brilliant, a creepy, compelling description of panic and fear, in a forest in the middle of the night. Their sense, thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong—they were so confused, so discombobulated by what they were seeing and hearing, and they were so frightened as well, they didn’t have a clue what was going on any longer, and it made senseless things begin to do them wrong. It was as if the whole forest had turned against them, or so it seemed to Bottom’s companions, as if they were being hunted, trapped, attacked: for briers and thorns at their apparel snatch, snagging their clothes as they tried to run, some sleeves, some hats; from yielders, all things catch. It seemed to them that the forest itself had turned on them! Properly scary, actually. (None of that needs to have happened; Puck makes it happen retrospectively.) But Puck was delighted, and did his bit too: I led them on in this distracted fear, made the most of it, chased them, tricked them, frightened them even more, and left sweet Pyramus translated there. They simply abandoned him, metamorphosed into his new state; he just stood there, right, going, what? what’s going on? and then he had a little sing. It was BRILLIANT. And so—you can see where this is going—when in that moment, so it came to pass, right then, couldn’t have planned it better, Titania waked, and straightway loved an ass. BOOM. BOOM. Don’t clap, ladies and gentlemen, I know I’m good.