Cabangon, Desiree Ann B.

July 20, 2018

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and World Grade 11- Guava

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM “THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN” BY WILLIAM

SHAKESPEARE THROUGH BIOGRAPHICAL LITERARY CRITICISM

The Seven Ages of Man is a poetic attempt to fully know the truth and meaning that
deeply informs the central topic of this poem – that right from our entry to exit on this
chapter of life, an individual’s mortal comportments have been foredoomed by means of
seven divisions or stages that define our worldly duration.

William Shakespeare has made a mark in the English literature, with his 38 plays,
154 sonnets, and long narrative poems and other verses mustering the mainstays of
literature as we know and read until now. Shakespeare’s fructuous literary pieces has
been a part of the history on the field of literature.

The poem starts with the line “All the world’s a stage.” In this line, Shakespeare is
comparing the world to a stage which must’ve naturally captivated him since he was a
playwright. He finds a connection or a similarity between the world and the stage as in the
stage is full of action just like the world.

“All men and women are merely players.” The author concludes that all men and
women are actors on the stage of the world in the play of life. The word ‘merely’ tells us
that he regards an individual’s life as very frivolous.

“They have their exits and entrances.” This line has a dusky mood. What the author is
trying to say is that there is certainness about life and death. Time will come that these two
things will surely about to happen. We should note that the author used plural forms
(‘exits’ and entrances’) because he’s not only taking about death itself. He is talking
about relationships, too. Some people come and go in our lives, relationships are made
and some of it are broke.
 “And one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.” An
individual plays many parts throughout his lifetime. We play roles as a child, paremt, a
sibling, a companion, etc.

The first stage depicts the first chapter of our lives which is the infancy stage. All
life begins with being an infant or a baby. When a child is born, his mind is completely
blank. The speaker establishes the first stage of life as the stage of dependency. “Then
the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like
snail. Unwillingly to school.” The infant grows into a child. He no longer needs the
complete attention of his parents.The little child however doesn’t want to go to school.

“And then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.” Next, the educated youth is in the height of teenage
when adolescence sets in. The child now wreathes his dreams of love. He witnesses new
changes in his mind and body and feels differently than he’s ever been before. “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.”
The next age is that of a young soldier. The tender lover is slowly becoming into a
soldier — a soldier in the bridgehead of life. Soldiers vow oaths of allegiance and honour
and live by them. At this stage of life, honour and reputation are very valuable to them .
Thus, in this chapter you can witness the becoming of a man from his youth.

“And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined. With eyes
severe and beard of formal cut….” From being a dubious schoolboy to a hopeless
lover and a spirited soldier, now the man lives a life of ‘wise saws,’ which translates ,
that he neatly applies to the modern life as deemed fit by him. The man’s maturation into
a worldly being reaches a climactic point in this fifth stage.

In the sixth stage, the man enters the elderly act of life, as an old man requiring an
aide in his vision that was made weak with age. Shakespeare has shown how age
dissipates the fire of youth. While the final stage signifies the death of an individual.
 Shakespeare is urging his readers to ask themselves what is the true meaning and
purpose of life because no matter what we do and how well we do certain things, at the
end of the day we’re all meant to go back to the start in our cyclical existence of life and
death.