Seven Ages - English Literature

Summary
The poem commences with life being compared to a huge stage where all of us are only actors. Each person has an entry into the world at birth and exits it at death.

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 who slings his bag over his shoulder and creeps most unwillingly to school.

At the next stage in life, the young man is a lover who is busy composing ballads for his beloved and sighing deeply for her attention. He graduates into a bearded soldier who 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 whose waistline grows as he becomes fatter and fatter. He wears a short, formal beard and his eyes become intense. He is full of wisdom, speaking to everyone in a just and wise manner.

After he has played this part, he goes into the sixth age. He becomes thin, wears spectacles, the skin around him hangs loosely. He is made fun of as being a funny old man. His youth has been left behind. 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 where he experiences his second childhood as he becomes dependent on people once more. He is overcome by senility and forgetfulness, as he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell and taste, slowly but surely, and ultimately dies.

Sample Q's And A's

Question (1): What according to Shakespeare are the acts in man's life?

Answer: Shakespeare says that every man goes through seven acts in his life time from birth to death.

Question (2): What is Shakespeare's concept of life?

Answer: Shakespeare considers the world as one huge stage where all of us are actors who are enacting our clearly defined roles from time to time.

Question (3): Read the following and answer the questions:-

Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrows.

a. Name the stage in man's life.

b. What is 'woeful ballad'?

c. What is the figure of speech in the first line?

Answer: a. This is the lover's stage.

b. It refers to the sad, romantic verse or song written about his true love.

c. The figure of speech used is simile - 'sighing like a furnace'

Question (4): "Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel
seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.

a. Who is referred to here?

b. What are the distinguishing features of the soldier?

Answer: a. The soldier is referred to here.

b. The soldier is quickly drawn into a fight. He lays great importance on being honourable. He is always worried about his reputation and will do anything for it, even to the extent of being blown up by a cannon.

Question (5): "For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice
Turning again toward childish treble.

a. In which act is man playing this part?

b. What features of old age are mentioned here?

Answer: a. He is playing this part in the sixth act when man has reached old age.

b. The man who was so strong is gradually losing his strength. His legs have shrunk considerably and his once manly voice is becoming quivery and high pitched.

Question (6): Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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,
This acts being seven ages.

a) What poetic device is used in the above lines?

b) To what in man's life does the poet compare the exists and entrances the stage to?

c) Explain the phrase "one man in his time"

Answer: a) The poet has used a metaphor- a comparison as he has compared the world to a "stage" with each individual playing parts.

b) The poet compares the exits and entrances of the stage to death and birth of man respectively.

c) The extended meaning of the phrase "one man in his time" is the in the entire course of a person's lifetime.

Question (7): Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school.

a) Which stage of human life is described in the above lines?

b) What are the words or phrases which indicate that the boy is not willing to go to school?

Answer: a) The second stage of life, that is boyhood or children is described here.

b) The two phrases which indicate the boy's unwillingness to go to school are

i) Whining school boy

ii) Creeping like a snail unwillingly

Question (8): And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress's brow.

a) Why does the lover sigh?

b) Name the poetic device. Pick out the line that has it.

Answer: a) The lover sighs and this sounds like a furnace as he is probably disappointed or frustrated in love.

b) The poetic device is a Simile - sighing like a furnace.

Question (9): 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.

a) Which stage of human life is described in the above lines. What are the main characteristics of this stage?

b) What is the "bubble reputation"? How is it linked with the cannon's mouth?

Answer: a) The fourth stage of human life- that is the soldier's stage - has been described here.

The main characteristics are
i) The solider make many promises.

ii) He is beared and looks like a leopard

iii) He is jealous in matters concerning honour.

iv) He is quick in quarrel.

b) Bubble reputation mean a short lived, transitory period of fame. A solider can risk danger or death to uphold his self-respect. Facing a cannon's mouth invites sure death, but it also provides honour and glory to the brave soldi

Question (10): 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 modern instances,
And so he plays his part.

a) How does a man look in this stage of life?

b) What does he do to show his wisdom? Why?

Answer: a) A man is well - dressed in this stage of life. He has severe eyes and a fashionable beard. This flat round belly indicates his love for food. It is filled with well cooked chicken.

b) He quotes many sayings and examples to show his wisdom. He is a judge and he cites these examples and sayings while hearing and deciding cases.

Question (11): How is a man's last stage of life described?

Answer: The last stage of man's life is described as "second childishness and mere oblivion". In this stage man has no teeth. He babbles like a child when he speaks. His memory becomes weak and he forgets things very quickly. His eye sight deteriorates and he looses his sense of taste. He behaves like a child who needs to be cared for and his internal organs begin to lose control. Therefore, it is described as second childishness.