The Seven AgesEnglish Poems Index
The Seven Ages :
All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
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.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier.
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modem instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
By William Shakespeare
About The Poet :
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 23, 1564 and died in 1616. He is considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time. He wrote a book of 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and about three dozen plays. Shakespeare used poetic and dramatic means to create unified aesthetic effects. In verse he perfected the dramatic blank 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
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