"Our revels now are ended." With this line, Prospero opens Shakespeare's last great speech in The Tempest, Shakespeare's final major play. In the context of the play, Prospero is specifically referring to the show that he has just put on for his daughter, Miranda, and her soon-to-be-husband, Ferdinand. These 'revels' are now ending because the two are about to begin the work of maintaining a marriage. But of course, there is far more to this speech, as Prospero meditates upon the nature of life, particularly mortality.

First, Prospero tells us about how his play's actors, including Ceres and Juno, have "melted into air". Ceres was a Roman goddess of agriculture, while Juno was the Roman queen of the gods; if they can simply "melt" away into nothing implies that this is the fate of all that exists (whether or not the spirits that Prospero summons are actually Ceres and Juno isn't certain, but regardless, the symbolism can still stand, as I will explain).

Then, Prospero discusses how the set of his play, such as "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces/The solemn temples, the great globe itself", shall similarly disappear. However, there's one problem- the play just performed didn't feature any of these places; the action took place entirely in the open air of nature. So, why does Prospero bring them up at all? Likely, he is referring to the institutions of real life, and to their temporary existence. In just two lines, 21 syllables, Prospero takes in architectural accomplishment, politics, and religion, and frames all of it as a play, signified here by the Globe, the name of London's major theater. The mention of the globe also puts all of material existence onto the chopping block, which is why the exact identity of the spirit-actors is ultimately irrelevant.

At last, Prospero returns to humanity, which is seen as "such stuff/As dreams are made of," with our lives "rounded with a sleep". This sentiment dimly echoes Hamlet's comparison of death with sleep, but here, it's all of life that is compared to a dream. But whether or not that dream is a meaningful symbolist experience, or little more than ideas bubbling in an exhausted brain, is not elaborated upon. That is something that we ourselves must determine.