The poet presents a human life in seven stages/ages.

Beginning from infancy, life passes through

childhood, adolescence, adulthood, mid-age, old age and finally the last stage. The world is a vast
stage and we are all actors and actresses. Some play a short role and die (guest appearance) while
others play long roles. Some are heroes and some are villains. The show must go on!

The Seven Stages

Age One Infant (Cry and vomit; no proper sight, hearing, smell; totally dependent on mother or
nurse)

Age Two School Boy (Unwilling to school; lazy; slow)

Age Three Lover (Falling in love with someone; growing sad at the loss of the lover)

Age Four Soldier (In conflict with everything family, society, people, system; not aware of the
consequences; style; adventurous; risky)

Age Five Wise man (No more romantic; advising his children; speaks of morals; fond of eating;
glutton)

Age Six Comedian (Memory loss; laughing stock)

Age Seven Dying Man (Once again dependent; no sight, no memory; not able to hear)

Starting

All the worlds a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

What do you understand by the world as a stage?

The stage is a perfect representation of the world. The world is endlessly vast as the stage is. Like on
the stage, people come, live and disappear. Some have dialogues, some dont have, some have a
short appearance and sudden disappearance, some have a tragic end while some have a peaceful,
comic end. In this drama, there is someone to direct the players, score, plot and costume. It is this
director who decides how beautiful or ugly a character should appear or how innocent, virtuous or
how wicked one should appear.

What is a mans entry into the stage?

Man makes his entry into the stage with his birth as an infant.

Why is a man supposed to play many parts in his life?

The drama called life is a long event, full of incidents one after another. From birth to death, a man
or woman has to pass through various transformations. Growth leads him through unknown stages
until the journey ends in death.

Age 1 : Birth to 3 years

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurses arms.

Meaning

Infant Baby

Mewl Cry

Puke Vomit

Nurse Caretaker

Questions

How does the poet describe the infant?

The infant in the first stage is a noisy one. It cries endlessly and, being sick, vomits in the nurses
arms.

Age 2 : Schoolboy

Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.

Meaning

Whine Cry

Satchel Bag; school-bag

Creep Go very slowly

Questions & Answers

What kind of a school boy does Shakespeare present in the poem?

The school boy presented by Shakespeare is unwilling about learning and schooling. Even though he
has a shining young face and a schoolbag, he is crying.

Why is the schoolboy compared to a snail?

The schoolboy is compared to a snail because he is so slow as a snail due to his unwillingness to go
to school and due to the pull from his comfortable family.

Age 3 : Lover / Teenager

And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress eyebrow.

Meaning

Sigh Expression of strong feeling :

Woeful Sad

Ballad Song

Mistress Lady lover

Questions & Answers

Why is the lover compared to a furnace?

A furnace is an extremely hot oven that burns inside and is able to burn anything in its way. Similarly,
the young lover, too, is burning with passion for his lover and is ready to commit any act of heroism
for her sake. His love for his beloved is able to set anything on fire as a furnace is able to.

Why does the lover sing a woeful ballad about his lovers eyebrow?

It is most probably due to dejection and loss of his lover that the young lover sings a sad song
describing his lovers eyebrow. In her absence he recalls her by remembering her beauty, her
beautiful eyes that looked at him with love.
Age 4 : Soldier / Adolescent

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 cannons mouth.

Meaning

Strange Weird

Oaths Pledges

Bearded having a beard

Pard Leopard

Honour Respect

Quarrel Fight

Bubble Momentary/transient/short-lived

Reputation Respected status

Cannon A mounted huge gun on two wheels used in the past.

Questions & Answers

What does the poet really convey through the image of soldier?

The image of the soldier represents the angry young man. At this stage, he has no power to think
logically. He is controlled by a powerful flow of adrenaline, so, many of his decisions are impulsive.

What are the characteristics of the soldier?

Soldier is patriotic and reckless/careless. He acts without thinking of consequences/impact. His

recklessness enables him to undertake any adventurous and risky actions. When his peers excel in
adventurous tasks, he feels jealous of them. He picks up quarrels quite thoughtlessly and pledges to
stand by his immature ideology. He also puts on style for his appearance and beards take different
shapes.
What are the bubble reputations? What is the irony in this?

Reputation has been described as bubbly because it is transitory by nature. The irony is that the
soldier does not survive to enjoy the reputation he has defended.

What forces the soldier to take any sort of strange and risky oath?

In the fourth stage of life, man plays the role of a soldier, full of strange, solemn promises and having
a beard like that of a leopard. In this stage he is aggressive, short tempered, jealous when others
become successful, daring and adventurous. He is ready to do anything for his reputation even at
the cost of his life.

Age 5 : Judge / Middle aged

And then the justice

In fair round belly, with good capon lind,

With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws, and modern instances,

And so he plays his part.

Meaning

Justice A wise man

Capon Chicken

Lind Lined/put together

Severe Angry and commanding

Saws advice

Modern instances Modern examples

Questions & Answers

What sort of changes does soldier undergo to emerge into justice?

Why are the justices eyes severe and belly round?

What qualities in him make the man a justice?

Age 6 60 to 80
The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipperd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,

His youthful hose well savd, a world too wide,

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again towards childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound.

Meaning

Slippered Wearing indoor slippers

Pantaloon A comedian or clown; A stupid old man

Spectacles Reading glasses

Pouch A hanging projection under eyes that develop in old age

Youthful hose Hose means either of a trousers and youthful hose means the trousers the man
wore in his youth.

Shrunk Lean

Shank Leg

Questions & Answers

Why is man said to be slippered pantaloon?

The man in his sixth stage is said to be a slippered pantaloon because he starts behaving like one
with unstable memory and hence behaves like a funny old man. Again, as he prefers staying home
most of the time, he wears slippers rather than shoes.

Describe mans physical transformation in the sixth stage.

Why is the old mans spectacles resting on his nose?

What had happened to the mans youthful hose?

How does the mans youthful hose become a world too wide for him?

What happens to mans voice in his sixth stage?

What are the symptoms of second childishness that the old man shows at the end of his sixth stage?

Age 7 : Second Childhood

Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

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

Questions & Answers

Why is the seventh stage similar to the first stage?

The seventh stage is similar to the first stage as in the first stage the man is not in a state to hear
things the way he used to hear when he was young. The man who used to understand everything
then is not able to do so now. Just like an infant needs care, support and love a man in the seventh
stage needs the same. The sight becomes weak in this stage and in the first stage the infant is not in
a condition to see things clearly. Just like an infant is not having teeth when it is born, the man in the
seventh stage starts losing its teeth.

COMMENT BIJU JOHN

Biju John

Biju John is an educational writer, educator and the author of OM The Otherwise Me