Introduction to poet William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, the son of John Shakespeare, a glove
maker and dealer in wool, who became bailiff, justice of the peace and the Queen’s chief officer
at Stratford-on-Avon, as evidenced in his application for a coat of arms in 1569.

Shakespeare probably attended Stratford Grammar School from 1571, but was removed
from school around 1577, when his father’s fortunes apparently began to decline, probably as a
result of the increasingly anti-Catholic policy of the government of Elizabeth I, a policy which
provided for fiscal and other penalties for non-attendance at Church of England services
(recusancy), and enforced the exclusion of Catholics from public office.

Title:

The world is a stage for human beings, where they play their different roles of life. Infact
human beings play their parts in life as characters play their role on stage.

All the World’s a Stage:

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

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Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his master’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard

Jealous in honor, 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 modern instance;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloons,

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,

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 Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

1st Paragraph

All the world’s a stage

And all the men and women are merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “All the World’s a Stage” written by William
Shakespeare.

Context:

This sonnet of Shakespeare is from his famous play “All You Like It”. This poem
describes various stages of human life. Life has been compared to a play or drama played by
every man and woman on the stage of the world. His seven stages of life are the seven acts of a
play. This shows Shakespeare’s deep knowledge and transience of human life.

Explanation:

In these lines the poet compares this world to a stage. All the 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 life time plays many parts. These parts are
called seven ages. These ages are actually like acts of a play.

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7 Stages:

. 1: An infant crying

. 2: A complaining school boy

. 3: A lover

. 4: A bearded soldier

. 5: A wise justice

. 6: An old man

. 7: Second childhood

Stage 1:

At first, the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “All the World’s a Stage” written by William
Shakespeare.

Context:

This sonnet of Shakespeare is from his famous play “All You Like It”. This poem
describes various stages of human life. Life has been compared to a play or drama played by
every man and woman on the stage of the world. His seven stages of life are the seven acts of a
play. This shows Shakespeare’s deep knowledge and transience of human life.

Explanation:

Shakespeare says that each human being performs seven parts in this small drama on the
stage of the world. He makes his entry as a baby who is fully dependent upon others. This stage
ends when the infant grows into a school child.

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Stage 2:

And then the whining school boy,

With his satchel, and shining morning face,

Creeping like snail, unwillingly to school

Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

The second stage is his boy hood. This is his school going period. It is the time when he
complains all the time. His face shines like the bright and fresh morning. He carries his school
bag and unwillingly goes to school at the speed of an insect.

Stage 3:

And then the lover, sighing like a furnace,

With a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.

Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

This is the third stage of man’s life. Now he is grown up person and assumes the form of a
lover. It is the time when he loves his beloved ardently. He sighs like a furnace or an oven. He
writes a song in praise of his beloved’s eye brow. He also sings such songs again and burns in his
emotions.

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Stage 4:

Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded

Like the pard,

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth

Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

In these lines the poet shows fourth stage of a man’s life. When he matures, he becomes a
soldier. He takes strange oaths. He has a beard like a tiger or a leopard. He is fierce like these
animals. During this stage of life, man is jealous of honor of others. He is very quick tempered
and owns quarrels. Since he is warm blooded, he looks for temporary reputation and fame. To
achieve this temporary fame, he is even ready to go into the mouth of a gun. He does not bother
for dangers.

Stage 5:

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.

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Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

This is the fifth stage of man’s life. Here man becomes middle aged and mature like a
judge and has a fair round belly full of the meat of chickens. Perhaps, he has become fit because
he eats meat and fat castrated cocks in excess. It is the stage when he is firm, serious and grim.
His conversation is full of many different proverbs of the world of the past and is also full of the
examples from the modern age. He has beard of formal cut and as such plays this part of life.

Stage 6:

The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloons,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youth 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

Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

This is the last stage of man’s life. In this stage he changes from his old age to the oldest
one. This is a strange stage of life. In this period all the life which has been previously full of

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strange events, comes to an end. Man becomes child once again. This is like his second
childhood.

In this stage he is childish as well as childlike. At this stage he forgets almost everything.
His memory becomes very weak. He loses teeth, eye sight and taste. He is without everything.
This is the stage in which he completes the drama of his life and leaves the stage of this world
for the next.

Stage 7:

Last and final stage

Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

Reference: Same as explained

Context: Same as explained

Explanation:

This is the last stage of man’s life. In this stage he changes from his old age to the oldest
one. This is a strange stage of life. In this period all the life which has been previously full of
strange events, comes to an end. Man becomes child once again. This is like his second
childhood.

In this stage he is childish as well as childlike. At this stage he forgets almost everything.
His memory becomes very weak. He loses teeth, eye sight and taste. He is without everything.

This is the stage in which he completes the drama of his life and leaves the stage of this world
for the next.

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Summary:

The great dramatist of all ages, Shakespeare presents a unique treatment of human life in
his play “As You Like It”. This masterpiece of keen observation, All The World’s a Stage is in
fact a speech delivered by one of the characters of the above mentioned play. In this poem the
poet compares the entire world to a stage, where all the men and women play their particular
part. During the course of drama of life the character appear and disappear on the stage to
perform their role. There are seven stages of this drama. Birth is entrance and death is exit.

The first period begins and helpless in fact in the nurse’s arms vomits feebly. In the
second stage a complaining school boy appears on the stage. He goes to school unwillingly like a
snail. Then a teenager enters the stage sighing like a furnace and singing songs for his beloved.
After this, man acts as a soldier ready to fight suddenly, seeking prompt fame even in the
cannon’s mouth to make his mark in his history. In the fifth period a judge, with formal beard,
fairly round belly and severe eyes appears on the stage of the world. He knows many proverbs
and can quote a lot of modern instances. In the sixth stage he becomes an old man, lean and
weak.

There whistles in his voice and he wears glasses on his nose. He keeps a small bag with him and
the world is so vast for his weak body. In the last (seventh stage) he is on the verge of end
(death). He has lost every quality of his youth and has become a helpless child again this ends
this eventful history (life).

These different stages hint at the fact that nothing is permanent in this life as life is
transient. Interpretation of human life is understandable to some extent but is not agreeable full.

Reference:

The opening sentence of a monologue from “As You Like It” (1623), which develops into a
description of the seven ages of man.

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Conclusion:

Life is a drama, the world is a stage and we human beings are actors. The theme hints at the
greatest irony in the lives of human beings, Shakespeare over here has masterfully describe the
stages of human life. The use of imagery and of acting and stage is a recurrent one in
Shakespeare.

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