The Seven Ages of Man

by William Shakespeare, Trevor White (Preface)

"All the world's a stage" is one of Shakespeare's best-known and best-loved monologues, recounted by the melancholy Jaques, in As You Like It. This homage to Shakespeare and Jaques' speech comprises the text of the seven ages, with superb illustrations from Royal Academy artists, complemented by the original text from the First Folio of 1623.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Drama

24 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2013

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Sadia Mansoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the world's 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. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy 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' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
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 lin'd,
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 slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards 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.

One of the first poem of Shakespeare I have ever read & definitely the best among others! The words can be easily read & understood & its not in the typical Shakespearean English.. I remember the time when we were reading it in our poetry class at English Department & I instantly fell in love with its meaning ^_^
Seriously.. Shakespeare couldn't have described the stages of a man's life in other words than these.. :)

[vxmpslibrary [hiatus]]

literally, one of the poetry for my exam tomorrow.... what the heck.

let's revise!

"All the worlds a stage"

William Shakespeare from his poetry 'The Seven Ages' explains the stages of men and women who are merely players in a play, calling the world stage where every person plays a part where exits and entrances are simply meaning 'death and birth'

So first they start with the mere infant, who's mewling and puking in the nurse's arm, while another grows into a schoolboy, who hates and complains going to school with a backpack slung over his shoulder. And so another stage enters of the lover singing woeful ballads, sighing like a furnace.

Then comes the young soldier, with his strange solemn promises and trying to be the first and better, with his strength and bravery, trying to get some recognition over another, and even in the brink of death, he would rather die clean, than be a cheater or give up.

And so ends the young adult and enters the adult. Justice, with his eyes being a keen observer and judgemental yet active. He also maintains himself knowing how to groom oneself. He has experienced a lot practically.

So enters the sixth stage, wearing loose garments, with glasses on nose and old age signs, his entire physique shrinks, his frame no longer long, and now shrunk. His big manly voice turns into like a childish voice, the pitch like a whistle of a pipe.

And so the last scene enters himself, where death comes near, ending this strange history of a man's life as he remembers utmost nothing, everything a mere lost memory to him as he remains without teeth, eyes, taste and everything.

[JJ Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite poems ever!

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a poetical way to look at man's life. It's very depressing leaning toward the meaningless in it's description, but it's poetic nonetheless.

[caizen. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for the sake of the English class.

The story wasn't great, and it is as I expected it would be. As someone who has read multiple classics, I'm not really a fan of Shakespeare's works. I suppose that while this may be beautifully poem for the others, I wouldn't say that it is indeed beautifully written. I like the concept of the poem, moreover the message of the poem, however, the way it was written was pretty old-fashioned and I didn't understand it immediately—which is completely understandable because this is Shakespeare. The opening was pretty strong, I love it, but the rest of the poem—especially the one towards the ending—was pretty not it and somewhat confusing.

Also, this is just me saying I don't like Shakespeare.

[Amelia Bujar · Rating 5 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

Wow I was just mind blow when I read this book because it was so fucking good that is just took me couple of days to get over this one.

This one is very depressing it is almost meaningless about its outlook at man’s life. But for me that’s what it made it so amazing.

The plot was very poetical but the view which it took onto it is what it made it so amazing and one of my favourite from William Shakespeare’s work so far.

The writing style here was super interesting and super enjoyable and I really had an amazing tine reading this one.

[⋆.˚ Ariana ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this ain’t the truth.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good monologue.

[Aleria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been so long since I've listened to something from Shakespeare. Haven't read anything by him since high school, glad I got to hear something amazing :)
(found one where Benedict Cumberbatch narrated it)

[dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars