Shakespeare
Emanuel Rivas
9/27/2013
“The Seven Ages of Man”
William Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist of English literature. His superiority as a poet lies in his trendy poem “The Seven Ages of Man.” In this poem, Jaques, the narrator, compares life to a huge stage where all of us are mere actors. Each person has an entry to the world at birth and exits at death, living only seven acts. Jaques portrays these seven acts by applying stylistic devices such as diction and figurative language to provide detail. Jaques commences with a metaphor that projects the significance of the poem: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” This simply suggests life is but a theatrical performance. The poem now proceeds to the first and foremost act, the stage of infancy, where man makes his presence felt by crying at the top of his voice and vomiting any food or drink that is repulsive, in the nursing arms of his mother. This stage is relevant to every human being. The second stage is the ‘whining’ schoolboy where he learns to utter a plaintive, high-pitched sound, as in fear, supplication, or complaint. The boy’s reluctance is emphasized by the selected simile: ”Creeping like a snail.” After this stage he reaches his early youth, the peak of love and high romance. In this stage he sighs like a burning furnace and sings the sad ballads of romance full of woe to impress his lover’s heart. The impression of her reply can be seen in her eyebrows. In the next role the adolescent is now a soldier (a grown man) with a life full of obligations, commitments, oaths, and vows. His beard is like a leopard’s whiskers. He endlessly fights for his honor, a full presence of mind which is sudden and quick in quarrel; sudden in disagreement and ready to defend. The fifth stage is the adult-hood where a man tries to live a fair and justified life (the justice). He is “in fair round belly with good capon lin’d,” proverbially meaning the man is bribed. His eyes are
9/27/2013
“The Seven Ages of Man”
William Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist of English literature. His superiority as a poet lies in his trendy poem “The Seven Ages of Man.” In this poem, Jaques, the narrator, compares life to a huge stage where all of us are mere actors. Each person has an entry to the world at birth and exits at death, living only seven acts. Jaques portrays these seven acts by applying stylistic devices such as diction and figurative language to provide detail. Jaques commences with a metaphor that projects the significance of the poem: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” This simply suggests life is but a theatrical performance. The poem now proceeds to the first and foremost act, the stage of infancy, where man makes his presence felt by crying at the top of his voice and vomiting any food or drink that is repulsive, in the nursing arms of his mother. This stage is relevant to every human being. The second stage is the ‘whining’ schoolboy where he learns to utter a plaintive, high-pitched sound, as in fear, supplication, or complaint. The boy’s reluctance is emphasized by the selected simile: ”Creeping like a snail.” After this stage he reaches his early youth, the peak of love and high romance. In this stage he sighs like a burning furnace and sings the sad ballads of romance full of woe to impress his lover’s heart. The impression of her reply can be seen in her eyebrows. In the next role the adolescent is now a soldier (a grown man) with a life full of obligations, commitments, oaths, and vows. His beard is like a leopard’s whiskers. He endlessly fights for his honor, a full presence of mind which is sudden and quick in quarrel; sudden in disagreement and ready to defend. The fifth stage is the adult-hood where a man tries to live a fair and justified life (the justice). He is “in fair round belly with good capon lin’d,” proverbially meaning the man is bribed. His eyes are