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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 2Scene 2
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“love’s richest book”
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Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 117-128

An explanation of Lysander’s comparison of Helena’s eyes and a book in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Lysander

Content with Hermia? No, I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia but Helena I love.
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason swayed,
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season;
So I, being young, till now not ripe to reason.
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
Love's stories written in love's richest book.

Lysander thinks that he can peer into Helena’s eyes and read her like a book, and what he sees are “love’s stories.” Today, the word "story" usually refers to a work of fiction, but in Shakespeare's day it referred to a historical account; Lysander is certain that what he's seeing in Helena's eyes is true love (as you would expect since he's under the influence of a love drug).