All the World's a Stage

William Shakespeare


About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright and poet. The author of works that are globally studies and recognised, he is considered to be one of the greatest writers in the English language. His compositions include thirty-eight plays, a hundred and fifty four sonnets and two long verse poems. Some of his most famous plays are a Midsummer Night's Dream, As you Like It, Macbeth and Hamlet.

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, w2ith his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balled
Made to his mistress' 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 instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 
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,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion, 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 

Available Answers

  1. 1.

    The title of the poem draws on a comparison. How is that comparison explained in the next five lines?

  2. 2.

    What picture do we get of the infant and the schoolboy?

  3. 3.

    How does the speaker present the character of the lover in a humorous way?

  4. 4.

    What is important for the soldier?

  5. 5.

    What picture do we get of middle age?

  6. 6.

    Why are the sixth and seventh stages associated with 'second childishness'?

5 more answer(s) available.

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