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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Prospero's Vision
Language: English 
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
[Our revels now are ended.]1 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,
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. Sir, I am vex'd;
[Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose:]1 a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   K. Saariaho 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Saariaho.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in The Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1 (Prospero) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Kaija Saariaho (1952 - 2023), "Prospero's Vision", published 2004? [ baritone, clarinet, harp, violin, and contrabass ], from The Tempest Songbook, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Andrea Maffei) , no title, first published 1869


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-21
Line count: 18
Word count: 139

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