Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·The Tempest, Act IV.i ·Prospero
"We are such stuff as dreams are made of."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"We are such stuff as dreams are made of."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"We are such stuff / As dreams are made on." Prospero — The Tempest, Act IV.i
Why it matters
"On," not "of." "Made on" is an Elizabethan construction — like "made of" but with the preposition shifted. Modern paraphrase changes the grammar and flattens the line.
More from the canon.
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