Class IX: The Seven Ages

The Seven Ages

About the poet:

William Shakespeare though is known for his plays, he is also one of the greatest poets of all he times with 154 sonnets in his credits. Some of his poems are not written separately but are the long narration features in his plays. He has also written two long narrative poems.

About the poem:

The poem ‘The Seven Ages’ is an extract from Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’. The poem focuses on different stages of line. The poet compares the different stages of life with different images. Here, Shakespeare has used poetic and dramatic means to create unified aesthetic effects.

Summary:

The poet compares the life with the stage because in our life we have to play various roles. It is similar to playing various characters on the stage. The birth and the death of an individual are compared with the entrance and the exit of the character on the stage. The life, as compared by Shakespeare, consists of seven acts.

Textbook Exercise:

1. What does Shakespeare compare the world with?

Ans: Shakespeare, in ‘The Seven Ages’, compares the world with on the stage.

2. How does Shakespeare carry out the comparison between the stage and the world?

Ans: The poet says that to live in the world is like to perform a play on the stage. People born and die, and during their lifetime, they perform various roles at different stages of their lives. Similarly, during a play, an artist has to play various roles. Every artist has his own entrances and exits. These entries and exits are like birth and death.

3. What is the first stage? How does the poet describe the first stage?

Ans: The first stage is of an infant. The infant cries a lot and pukes on the nurse’s arm. Here, the poet is trying to show the stage of infancy where the child is completely dependent on others. The child cannot do anything but eat, puke, and cry.

4. What role do people play in the life according to the poet?

Ans: According to the poet, people play the role of a school-going child who is not willing to go to school. As the child has spent his earlier years with his family and friends in fun and frolics, he is not willing to go to the school away from his closer friends. Till now he was dependent on others, but now he has to go to school and be independent. Here, the awareness of responsibility is making his cry.

5. Which is the third stage of life according to the poet? What does a person do in this stage?

Ans: The third stage of life is of a lover. A lover always thinks of his beloved. In this stage, he thinks of nothing else but of his love. He doesn’t feel any responsibility; on the other hand, he is always busy in praising his lover’s eyebrows (her physical features) in the form of a ballad. To face the world, and ready

6. What does the ‘soldier’ in the poem ‘The Seven Ages’ symbolize?

Ans: The soldier is the role to be performed on the stage as described by the poet. In reality, the poet wants to focus upon the stage of life where one is young, enthusiastic and energetic. After the lover’s stage is over, one becomes serious about his life. He is ready to take responsibilities, ready to compete with others for the glory. One is always ready to fight over trivial matter. In this stage one cares more about the reputation and does anything to be famous.

7. What does the phrase ‘bubble reputation’ mean?

Ans: The phrase ‘bubble reputation’ means the reputation which does not last long. In youth, people always crave to get popularity, to be famous. But whatever they do, in this age, to be popular, is not so great, that their achievement doesn’t last for long. So, it is called as ‘bubble reputation’.

8. How does the poet describe the stage of maturity in this poem?

Ans: The poet calls the stage of maturity as justice. It means that in this stage people get enough mature to take their own decision and to understand the difference between the right and the wrong. The phrase ‘round belly’ symbolizes the settled life of a person where he is happy with whatever he has. ‘The formal cut beard’ represents the socially accepted behavior of that person.

9. How does the poet describe the sixth stage?

Ans: The sixth stage is of an old age. In this age, the man bends due to illness. His health, his vision slowly gets weaker. His skin gets folds doe to old age. He spends most of his time in remembering his youth. He cannot walk for a long. His manly voice turns weaker and weaker day-by-day.

Poetic devices:

Metaphor is the mostly used poetic device in this poem.

• The world is compared with the stage
• Birth is compared with the entrance on the stage
• Death is compared with the exit from the stage

Simile is also used in this poem at various instances:

• Creeping like snail
• Sighing like furnace
• Bearded like the pard

Repetition:

• Sans teeth, sans eyes …
• Their exits and their entrances

Alliteration:

• His shrunk shank
• Turning again towards childish treble

• Sans teeth, sans eyes …