How many countries make up the Isles of Wonder?

Answer 1

None because the "Isles of Wonder" is an imaginary place. The "Isles of Wonder," refers to a passage in Shakespeare's The Tempest, set on a remote, magical island.

The character Caliban refers to his home as an isle "full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not."

The phrase "Isles of Wonder" does not appear in The Tempest or anywhere in Shakespeare. It is the name of the album of the music to the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics. One of the tracks from the soundtrack, called "Caliban's Dream" was accompanied during the ceremony by the passage referred to from the Tempest Act 3 Scene 1. The entire passage is as follows:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches

Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked

I cried to dream again.