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These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.
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The ‘Our revels now are ended’ speech delivered by Prospero in The Tempest is a beautiful depiction of the temporary nature of life. In the first lines of this speech, Prospero ends the masque, or performance, that he’s created for his daughter and her fiancé, Ferdinand. He tells them that the performance is over, just as life itself will one day e...
The‘Our revels now are ended’ speech is a short speech that Prospero delivers in The Tempest. Generally, the section most commonly associated with the quote is eleven lines long and begins with the line “Our revels now are ended. These our actors” and ends with “Is rounded with a sleep.” In this section of the play, the poet utilized iambic pentame...
Within this excerpt from The Tempest, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to: 1. Anaphora: can be seen when the poet repeatsthe same word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines. For example, “The” in lines five and six. 2. Allusion: occurs when the poet refers to something outside the scope of the...
Lines 1-6
The speaker, Prospero, opens the ‘Our revels now are ended‘ speech (prior to the quote included here) by addressing Ferdinand, the man who his daughter, Miranda, is going to marry. He tells Ferdinand and Miranda that the festivities he’s been providing for them, in the form of a play performed by spirits he’s conjured, need to pause. He’s just thought of something quite important, and he needs to speak about it. The performers are “spirits” he notes, who “melted into air, into thin air.” They...
Lines 7-11
The speaker reiterates his point about life, possessions, buildings, and people disappearing into nothingness in the next lines. He concludes the speech with the famous and commonly misquoted line: “We are such stuff. As dreams are made on.” He refers to himself and all people as dream stuff, imaginings, fantasies, and temporary lives that begin and end with “a sleep.” This line is often misquoted as “stuff / As dreams are made of.” But, the two are, at least in definition, interchangeable. W...
Readers who enjoyed this piece should also consider reading some other William Shakespeare poems. For example: 1. ‘Sonnet 130’ – one of Shakespeare’s best-known sonnets. It emphasizes the speaker’s lovers’ beauty and elevates it beyond all other things. 2. ‘All the world’s a stage’ – a well-known monologue found in William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Lik...
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- October 9, 1995
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The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. (IV.i. 148 – 158)
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve 1885 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd; Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled: 1890 Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
Prospero says \"the great globe itself\" is like a dream that will fade away. Learn the meaning, context and origin of this famous line from The Tempest.
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff. As dreams are made on, and our little life. Is rounded with a sleep. (IV.i. 148–158 )
Act 5, Scene 1. Act 5, Epilogue. Download the entire The Tempest translation as a printable PDF! The Tempest Translation Act 4, Scene 1. Also check out our detailed summary & analysis of this scene. Original. Translation. PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA enter.
