seven ages (english term 2 for class 9)

2. The poem “The Seven Ages”, which is actually
an extract from Shakespeare’s delightful comedy
“As You Like It”. This master piece of poetry is a
moral commentary on life written in an
exceptionally exclusive style which is the attribute
of Shakespeare. The poem contains an amusing
and classical description on human nature and
behaviour which reflects Shakespeare’s deep
awareness of human psychology. The poet makes
a comparison between world & stage. He says
that world is like a stage, life is like acting & men
and women are like actors. He classifies man’s life
into seven different ages.

4. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born
in Stratford - Upon- Avon . He is
considered by many to be the greatest
dramatist of all the time. He wrote 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. All the world’s a stage
And all the men women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
The poet makes a comparison between
world & stage. This world is just like a stage of
a theatre. All persons being players are given
different roles and both men and women are
having same entrance and exits.

8. 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.

9. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly 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.

10. Sighing like furnace, with a woeful
ballad
Made 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Into the lean and slippered
pantaloon,
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.

14. 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,
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.

15. 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.

16. 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

17. .
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.