What Are The "Seven Ages Of Man"?

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What Are The "Seven Ages Of Man"?

9 Answers

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Answer 1

The 'Seven Ages of Man' is a reference to a monologue that appears in Act II Scene VII of William Shakespeare's pastoral comedy As You Like It, where the melancholy character of Jaques muses on what he considers to be the seven stages of a man's life.
The monologue has become one of the most quoted and well recognized pieces ever written by Shakespeare, with the opening "All the world's a stage" (the line by which this monologue is commonly known) enjoying theatrical infamy. Ironically, and despite the monologue being popularly quoted nowadays, within the context of the play Shakespeare casts doubt on the ideas expressed in the speech.

The Seven Ages

In the monologue, Jaques portrays a man's journey through life in the following seven stages:

• Infancy: Portrayed as hapless and vulnerable "Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms"

• Childhood: An image of a school boy, reluctant to go to school

• The Lover: In this stage, man is described as sighing a 'woeful ballad' to his mistress, like many of Shakespeare's young male characters- susceptible to being totally consumed by their feelings towards a love interest.

• The Soldier: It is in this age that man is portrayed as hot headed and quick into battle, fueled by regard for his reputation and seeking recognition at all costs.

• The Justice: This stage is portrayed as a respectable and dignified man, full of worldly wisdom and an appreciation for life's indulgences.

• Old age: This stage sees man veer towards a full circle, he begins to lose the dignity and characteristics that once defined him, and instead becomes more fragile and childlike until finally he reaches the last stage:

• Complete 'Childishness and mere oblivion', mental and physical decline, with the final line describing man as being: "Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

Answer 2

Infant:
Infant boy has no other chances. He can't do and prefer anything. He is juust puking and crying.
School boy:
Of course he doesn't want to go school. He is compared to a snail with respect to his reluctance. Writer tells about the creeping mornings of school boy.
Then the lover:
He is full of woeful. He is like a furniture.
Soldier:
He take strange oaths. He don't know what his pledges mean. He is dauntless anyway. He commits his life but he don't cares. He is quick tempered. He want reputation but it is bubble reputation ( this means short lived fame. Bubbles are beautifull and stunning but they are short lived.) you risk your life for a bubble reputation. You are not mature yet.
Justice:
You are wise. You are convincing because of your life experience(wisdom). You are wordly wise. You have severe eyes at this stage. So people scared of you then they run cold because of your social status. People who are in front of you are intimidated by looky.
Pantaloon:
He is mean. He stoops because he wants to save his pouch on his belt. He is apt to keep lovers apart. He is parsimonious.
Old man:
He is like a child. He is contracting. He is a dotage. He can not hear well.

Answer 3

The seven ages of man are
infant
school-boy
lover
soldier
justice
Pantaloon
old age

Answer 4

The meaning of this poem is that life is a play. As humans, we go through stages in life. We make entrances onto the stage (birth), play a role (baby, child, etc.) and then exit (death). We think we are independent and choose how we act, but in reality, we are acting according to scripted roles. It seems as though the poem is expressing that we are all destined to follow the same path without much choice. We will all live, go through stages of life, then die. This author wrote this poem in order to juxtapose life on earth and playing a role in a play. He wanted us to realize that the two concepts are fairly similar. The tone of this poem is melancholy. He speaks of how in the end, you are without teeth, sight, taste, and many other things.

Answer 5

This poem has been written by William Shakespeare and is used in as you like it. Shakespeare tells us that every person goes through seven ages in his life : Infant schoolboy lover solider justice old man and the last , dying man. The word mewling and puking is used for infants which can be seen in a positive light and a negative one too : Mewling gives the impression of annoyance etc while it also tells that a baby is alive and healthy. The stage of a schoolboy comes when a person starts going to school while the lover comes when a person falls in love and this is shown as the most ridiculous stage as the lover can do anything for his beloved one. The fourth stage of a solider comes when a person starts to fight for his own rights and starts to become ill tempered whereas as we reach the stage of justice we know the difference between right and wrong. The sixth stage of an old man is when we start getting old. Our eyesight weakens, we bend, lose hair, teeth etc. The last stage of a dying man is when a person becomes like a child again because he needs to be looked after, has no teeth etc.

Answer 6

The poem seven stages of men were written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare has been a leading poet and dramatist for about seven years when he wrote AS YOU LIKE IT. Though his great tragedies were yet to be written, he had now achieved a wonderful easy and sure command of dramatic verse. His plays were mostly written in blank verse-unrhymed verse with five beats of lines.

It is basically a speech from the Act II, Scene VII of AS YOU LIKE IT. It is uttered by Jacques, one of the groups of noblemen living a life of exile in the Forest of Arden. Jacques is a melancholy but witty man, much given to moralizing. His wit is amusingly exuberant in the sketches of the first five stages of man's life but the sixth stage is, still witty, takes on a melancholy tone and the seventh sketch, of extreme old age, is utterly melancholy.

The poem basically starts with the seven stages of man and it says that this world is a stage and all the people are actors, actress. Everyone is here to play their part of the role. And this play of man's life starts from the time of his birth when he just an infant, and then comes the second stage which is of a crying school going boy who doesn't want to go to school. Third stage is of a lover, when he falls in love and understands the meaning of love and feelings. Forth stage is of an angry young soldier, who fights for his country and land. Fifth stage is the mature sketch of the man's life where he experience all the turns of life. Sixth stage is the one in which he plays with his grand kids and is full of wise advices. Seventh age is of an old man.

Answer 7

In this poem WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE dicribes the life of a person in seven stages.
1.Infant:
Infant boy has no other chances. He can't do and prefer anything. He is juust puking and crying.
2.School boy:
Of course he doesn't want to go school. He is compared to a snail with respect to his reluctance. Writer tells about the creeping mornings of school boy.
3.The lover:
He is full of woeful. He is like a furniture.
4.Soldier:
He take strange oaths. He don't know what his pledges mean. He is dauntless anyway. He commits his life but he don't cares. He is quick tempered. He want reputation but it is bubble reputation ( this means short lived fame. Bubbles are beautifull and stunning but they are short lived.) you risk your life for a bubble reputation. You are not mature yet.
5.Justice:
You are wise. You are convincing because of your life experience(wisdom). You are wordly wise. You have severe eyes at this stage. So people scared of you then they run cold because of your social status. People who are in front of you are intimidated by looky.
6.Pantaloon:
He is mean. He stoops because he wants to save his pouch on his belt. He is apt to keep lovers apart. He is parsimonious.
7.Old man:
He is like a child. He is contracting. He is a dotage. He can not hear well

Answer 8

The seven ages of men is a poem written by William Shakespeare about how human kind acts out there life in stages. No matter how we try to justify the fact that we are our on person but in reality we all play the smae part in life we have have to go through the process of birth, which hence means as Shakespeare said it our en trace into life. We are then infants that need to be look after until we can care for ourselves. Then we go through childhood which is our second stage of life. Then we futher exceed into adult hood and marriage. We learn and grow wiser as life goes on then we enter our later years in life which is after the middle age of life. From there we become children again beacuse as ole people we can't fully care for ourselves, so its like were children all over again. And the last part we play is our exit which is our death. Which all people have to go through.

Answer 9

Anonymous answered

The seven ages of man is a poem writin by shakespeare who is now dead. But it was a good poem, not known to to many people any more. Lol