21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND

THE WORLD

FORMALIST LITERARY TEXT (SEVEN AGES OF MAN by William

CRITICISM Shakespeare )

“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
IMPORTANT
HIS TIME PLAYES MANY PARTS.” This part of the poem states that all the People in the
DETAILS world “lives and dies.” “HIS ACTS BEING SEVEN AGES” and those people have different
roles in the society as stated on the poem.

FORM (PROSE OR
POETRY
POETRY)

IMAGES, SIMILE, Images:

METAPHORS, Simile: creeping like snail, bearded like the pard
SYMBOLISMS Metaphor: The lines 1-4, ‘Men and Women’ are compared to players or actors, etc.
Symbolism: Infant = mewling and puking, School-boy = satchel, Lover = sighing like a furnace,
Soldier = Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Justice = Fair, Age Shift = lean and
slipper'd pantaloon, and Second Childishness = oblivion

Characters: Men and Women, Infant, School-boy, Lover, Soldier, Justice, Age Shift, Second
CHARACTERS,
Childishness and narrator.
NARRATOR, Narrator: William Shakespeare
AUTHOR, PERSONA Author: William Shakespeare

Message: Nothing is permanent in this world; you’ll live and you die. As what stated in the
Poem (“THEY HAVE THEIR EXITS AND THEIR ENTRANCES”). You’ll live like the infant
MESSAGE / THEME and die like the Second childishness when you lose everything (“SANS TEETH, SANS EYES,
SANS TASTE, SANS EVERYTHING”). Shakespeare wants us to realize that live life to the
fullest, because life is just short make your life worth it.

The Seven Ages of Man

 by William Shakespeare

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, (4)
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning-face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’s eyebrow. Then a soldier, (11)
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, 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 (19)
Into the lean and slipper'd 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, (25)
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Vocabulary

Players—actors
Satchel—bookbag
Pard—leopard
Jealous—jealousy
Capon lined—stomach lined with a rooster (well fed)
Saws—wise sayings (advice)
Instances—examples
Pantaloon—weak foolish man
Shank—calf of the leg
Sans—without (French word)