The poem “The Seven Ages”, which is actuallyan extract from Shakespeare’s delightful comedy“As You Like It”. This master piece of poetry is amoral commentary on life written in anexceptionally exclusive style which is the attributeof Shakespeare. The poem contains an amusingand classical description on human nature andbehaviour which reflects Shakespeare’s deepawareness of human psychology. The poet makesa comparison between world & stage. He saysthat world is like a stage, life is like acting & menand women are like actors. He classifies man’s lifeinto seven different ages.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was bornin Stratford - Upon- Avon . He isconsidered by many to be the greatestdramatist of all the time. He wrote 154sonnets, two long narrative poems and aboutthree dozen plays. Shakespeare used poeticand dramatic means to create unified aestheticeffects. In verse he perfected the dramaticblank verse.

Words to Know :

Mewling : crying

Puking : being sick, vomiting

Satchel : a small bag, for carrying school books

Woeful : very sad

Oaths : solemn promises

Pard : leopard (a symbol of fierceness in Shakespeare's time)

Cannon : a big gun that fired cannon-balls made of iron

Justice : judge

Capon : a male chicken, very big and fat

Saws : sayings

Slippered : wearing slippers (indoor shoes)

Pantaloon : a funny old man, on whom other people play tricks

Pouch : a soft fold of loose skin that hangs down, as a result of illness or old age

Hose : tight-fitting leg coverings

Shank : legs from the knee to the ankle

Treble : a high voice

Oblivion : forgetting everything, and being forgotten by everybody

Sans : (pronounced like sone) a French word meaning without

All the world’s a stageAnd all the men women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

The poet makes a comparison betweenworld & stage. This world is just like a stage ofa theatre. All persons being players are givendifferent roles and both men and women arehaving same entrance and exits.

And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

According to Shakespeare, every man plays several parts during his life time. On the stage of life every man has seven acts. The first act of man is infancy.At this time all that the baby does is cry and puke on his nurse's lap. After he goes through his infant life, he emerges as a school child.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Shakespeare describes him as a boy having a face fresh like morning, with his bag hanging on his side, walking appropriately to school. In the beginning he does not like going to school but gradually his thinking changes. When time passes onwards the schoolboy transformed into a youngster.

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier

The young man is a lover who is busy composing ballads for his beloved and sighing deeply for her attention. Gradually, he graduates into a bearded soldier.

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,Jealous on honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,Seeking the bubble reputation.Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,

The soldier promises solemnly to guard his country. He is filled with national pride, is quick to be insulted and is always ready to spring up in defence. At this point of time he is more concerned with status and reputation. From the agile soldier, he goes on to become a judge.

In fair round belly with good capon lined,With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances;And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

The fifth stage of man’s life which he calls middle age or “judge”. In fair round belly with good tasty food. His body develops as he gets matured. Practically, his is a blend of custom, morality, religion, and education. The visible authority can be well located in him. Here he acts like the ruler, or chief; the ultimate authorities to pass a judgment on any aspects of life. After he has played this part, he goes into the sixth age.

Into the lean and slipperedpantaloon,With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,

Into the sixth age he becomes thin, wears spectacles, the skin around him hangs loosely. The man grows older and becomes weak.

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wideFor his shrunk shank: and his big manly voice,Turning again toward childish treble, pipesAnd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

His clothes hang loosely around him and his once manly voice turns into a high pitched, childish one. With this, man enters the last act.

That ends this strange eventful history,In second childishness and mere oblivion,sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

This age of man’s life is more or less same as that of the second phase of man’s life because at this stage man again behaves like a child. He is overcome by senility and forgetfulness, as he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell and taste, slowly but surely, and ultimately dies.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that

makes a comparison between two

unlike things, in which one thing

becomes another thing without the use

of the word like, as, than, or

resembles.

The dawn of day is the opening line of an

unwritten book

.

The hours of climbing sun are paragraph seeking

conclusion and the sunset is the final page of the

day

An extended metaphor is a

comparison developed over

several lines of writing.