Note: For the purpose of better understand I have part stanzas according to ages or stages.
Poet: William Shakespeare
About the Poet
William Shakespeare:
William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon in 1564 and died in 1616. He is undoubtedly the greatest English dramatist and poet. He began writing at an early age and had established a reputation for himself by acting and writing plays. His early works include the poems " Venus and Adonis" (1593) and the "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594). The controversial sonnets: "To the dark lady: appeared in 1609. He acted in Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour" and probably played the part of the Ghost in his own "Hamlet". The 18th century did not think much of Shakespeare as a dramatist, and his plays were adapted and changed to suit the taste of the age. However, the 19th century saw a reaction in his favour and modern critics agree that he is the world's greatest dramatist: his knowledge on men and women is unequalled. Not only does he give us magnificent poetry, but also a profound insight into human nature.Idea of the Poem:
Shakespeare over here has masterfully described the stages of human life. The use of acting and stage is a recurrent one in Shakespeare, not only because he was a dramatist, but also he was himself an actor. He compares the world to a stage and all human beings to actors enacting their allotted roles. The deeper meaning is that of the transience of life and brief span of importance or fame that we as actors enjoy and "then are heard no more" (Macbeth). The poet has divided life int seven stages spanning infancy to old age. Shakespeare profound knowledge of human life and acute observation can be seen here. The use of the word "mewling" for the infant cry is a wonderful stroke, and "creeping like a snail" is more than accurate descriptions of the reluctance school-going children. The last stage of a man's life evokes a feeling of pathos--all youthful passion spent, all ambition gone, and man reduced to a mere shadow of himself, sinking into oblivion.
Reference:
These lines have been taken from the poem “All the World's a Stage” written by William Shakespeare.
Context:
Stanza:
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.
Explanation:
In these lines, the poet compares this world to a stage. All men and women are only actors and actresses on the stage of this world. All these people have different routes to enter this stage and also have different exits to go out. They enter this stage when they are born and leave this stage when they die. Every person, during his lifetime, plays many parts. These parts are called seven ages. These ages are actually like acts of a play.
7 Ages (stages):
1: An infant crying • 2: A complaining schoolboy • 3: A lover • 4: A bearded soldier • 5: A wise justice • 6: An old man • 7: Second childhood (Last stage)
Stanza:
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
Explanation:
Stanza:
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
Explanation:
Stanza:
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard
Seeking the bubble reputation
Explanation:
Stanza:
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut.
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
Explanation:
Stanza:
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloons,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.
Explanation:
Stanza:
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion
Sans teeth, sane eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
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