Preview

Seven Ages of Men

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
619 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Seven Ages of Men
The Seven Ages of Man Poem Analysis

The Seven Ages of Men is one of the many poems that has been written by William Shakespeare, one of the most well known poets in history. This poem essentially speaks of the various stages of life that most people go through. Though written long ago, many can relate to it today. The speaker is a man who is familiar with drama, and expresses his multiple philosophical ideas about life. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the form of this poem, the sound, the imagery, and the figurative language that is used.
The Seven Ages of Man is a relatively short poem. It contains 28 lines, however, each of those lines is not to long in length. This poem looks to be an end-stopped poem, as there are multiple punctuation's after many of the lines, which encourages you to take a moment and pause. The way he uses end-stopped lines gives the poem a real, so-to-speak, emotion to it. When he pauses briefly at the end of the many lines, it creates this power, and shows you how strikingly similar the life in the poem is similar to your life.
The Seven Ages of Man poem also has a rhythm to it. It even contains some rhyme, but not to much. There is no specific amount of rhythm, as some lines are short, while others a a little bit longer, which keeps the poem interesting. I did not notice to much onomatopoeia in this poem, but i did notice some alliteration being used here and there. With this poem using all these effects and sounds devices, it keeps the poem intriguing. It also keeps the poem going, and prevents it from becoming stale, which is a very good quality for a poem that is 28 lines.
The imagery provoked in this poem is different for almost every line. For the first several lines, it causes me to think of a crying infant, being held by nurse in a hospital. Soon after that, it makes me think of a young boy running through a school playground. A few lines later, it speaks and describes a soldier, which makes me think

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz Summary

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There is a lot of imagery in this poem. There are descriptions like, “we romped around until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf. There is imagery in every stanza.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    poetry

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The poem is written in first person narrative. It has 6 stanzas of 8 lines: One stanza each on the narrator, the Lord and Kate; stanza 4 contrasts the position of the narrator and Kate; stanza 5 criticises Kate and stanza 6 focuses on the narrator’s triumph at having a child. Each stanza is the same length and each line has a similar rhythm, giving it a ballad-like feel. It could also be conveying the strength and perseverance of the narrator who has to face life in conflict with the expectations of Victorian society. Note that the tone changes as the poem progresses - regret, accusation, bitterness, triumph.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the middle of the poem, the author describes the constant reminders the speaker has of the war and the lingering effects it has using allusion, symbolism, and imagery.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The imagery in this poem is relating to the human body, like broken ribs and punctured lungs; and the mechanics of familiar objects. Also the poet is trying to point out that war created an unhappy life.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Upon reading the poem, imagery can be found throughout the entire poem. For example, in the first two lines you can imagine a doll being put away like a dead child in a chest, you cannot bring a dead child back to life. This is the burial of her childhood only to keep her memories and carry them with her for the rest of her life. Also, the second to last line where she is “wound,” twisted, “like the guts of a clock,” referring to her stomach. She feels a sense of anxiety here. This is her final emotion to conclude the poem. She fears growing up because of the responsibilities she will have to take on, the shame she felt when her period started, will…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To me, the poem appears to be comparing our youthful years as being as valuable as gold. We are to enjoy our time when we are young for it is the "…hardest hue to hold…" on to. It is also saying that our childhood years are very short and feels like "…but only so an hour…" As we grow older, our garden of "…Eden sank to grief…" The beginning of our life will quickly end as "…dawn goes down to day…" So in the end "…nothing gold can stay…" which refers to the end of our innocence. (All quotes taken from…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    english graphic organizer

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The poem created vivid images for me, I seen a person drowning in sorrow. I felt the heart break that followed throughout this poem.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the three stanza poem, the poet commemorates the first anniversary of seeing his beloved. He begins by using imagery from the political world: the royal court of “All Kings”. He juxtaposes this image with the supremacy of the “sun”, the true ruler of all mankind – without which the human race would die; this encompasses the highest concepts of the world. However, the poet then goes on to comment that even the mighty sun and the all-powerful kings have aged “a year” since he and his loved one “first one another saw”. Thus stating that the only thing not susceptible to “decay”; is the narrator and his loved one’s “love”: “our love hath no decay”. Their passion has “no to-morrow hath, nor yesterday” suggesting their mutual love is timeless and beyond the reach of mortality.…

    • 2003 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As the director of this precise production, my idea and vision for the 21st century version of “The Seven Ages of Man” is to a certain extent, altered. There is a merely different scene, so I want to set it where it rather emulates the poem. Though it cannot befuddle the audience’s attention away from the speaker and poem. However, I do want the scene to be conspicuous and speak for itself. Generally, movie producers choose prevalent places for precise movies, for example, California, New York, Atlanta etc... I chose to go a different route for this movie. I chose to do this scene in the mountains of Colorado, during the fall. Furthermore, I cannot disdain the character because he or she is a vital aspect to the movie. No doubt the person I choose for this movie is Denzel Washington. I have a vast amount of confidence in him that he is a prodigious person to play the part. This 21st century movie will be similar in specific ways, for example, the mood in this movie will be the exact same as in the second video on page four in the lesson. I want it to start the same way as well with Denzel having his arm on a tree and speaking the poem with an infuriated tone. Also, there will be a guy holding a war knife looking miffed and discerning about what ensued. The only difference will be is that there will not be anyone standing expect for Denzel and that there will not be a light for him to touch and the girl will not be touching her hair. Generally speaking, my new advised version of this play is awesome!…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay 1

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While different ages are momentous in the United States, when a person turns twenty-one it seems as if the person is definitely ready to enter the real world. A twenty-one year old step’s into the real world of grownups, accounting, and a legal drinking limit. A twenty first birthday is very special, as is someone’s sixteenth and eighteenth birthday. Both poems by Samuel Johnson and A.E. Housman demonstrate a person turning twenty-one, but both poems demonstrate different views on how the speaker and the audience feel. “To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age” is about the speaker telling his audience on how he feels about finally turning twenty-one. “When I Was One-and-Twenty” describes a young adult listening to an elder or someone they look up too about their new age. Both of these poems have a condescending or rude tone while they either talk or listen to the advice that they are given.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagery is evident throughout the poem. Visual and audial imagery was cleverly incorporated into the poem to offer the reader a glimpse into the mind of the mother. Visual imagery was used to help visualize…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Facing It

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The theme of the poem is illustrated throughout but is identifiable in the middle with the words used to create imagery, “I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby traps white flash.”(17-18) The author also uses imagery to show that the conflict had affected whites and blacks alike and had in some ways joined them as simply brothers in arms. “A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I am a window.” (25-27) The author uses these lines to show the reader that white or black they can both look back and reflect on the hells of war and relate to one another.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While both are different in content the message these two pieces of text offer are the same. Both works are explaining to the reader that change will happen no matter what, sometimes happening in cycles. In Shakespeare’s The Seven Ages of Man he mainly focuses on the change that is bound to happen in a person. Shakespeare describes life as seven stages “ At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms; And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school” (Shakespeare 5-9). He then lists the other stages of change being lover, soldier, justice,…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    English assignment 1

    • 346 Words
    • 1 Page

    own potential. But as time goes by slowly this “ eventful but strange” ( "The Seven Ages of…

    • 346 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare's themes in this particular poem are not unlike many of the others in "The passionate pilgrim", the set of poems from which "age and youth" originates, with conventional themes such as love and beauty and the related motifs of time and mutability. Being a "continuation" of the previous poems in "The Passionate Pilgrim" it connects with his theme of addressing love and praise not to a woman but instead to a young man full of youth and vitality.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays