UNDERGRADUATE II YEAR SUBJECT: English Poetry TOPIC: ALL THE WORLD S A STAGE Duration: 22:25 min William Shakespeare
ALL THE WORLD S A STAGE Introduction to William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is considered to be the best dramatist ever. He wrote 13 comedies, 13 historical plays, 6 tragedies, 4 tragi-comedies, 154 sonnets and three long poems titled Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece and A Lover's Complaint. He was born on 23 April 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in Stratford-upon-Avon. William Shakespeare was the third of the eight children born to the Shakespeares. Little is known about his childhood other than he went to the Stratford Grammar School and never continued to Oxford or Cambridge for further studies. In 1582, at the age of 18, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was elder to him by 8 years. The next year they were blessed by Susanna Shakespeare and two years later with the twins, Judith and Hamlet. From 1585 to 1592, seven years are known as the lost years for Shakespeare. It is believed that it is during this period Shakespeare moved to London and served an apprenticeship in
one of the theatres there. It is unknown which theatres Shakespeare wrote and acted for before 1594. There is evidence that Shakespeare became a stockholder of a company called The Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1594. It is also known that by 1594, Shakespeare had written at least six plays. In addition to being a stockholder and acting for The Lord Chamberlain's Men, he also wrote about two plays a year for them. With his band of actors and the theatre prosperity flourished and he bought New Palace, the second largest house in all of Stratford in 1597. In 1599, Shakespeare and six other men bought a new outdoor theatre in London called The Globe, which was one of the biggest theatres in England. Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and James I succeeded the throne of England. King James supported Shakespeare and his men were invited for entertaining the court regularly and they were given the license to call themselves the King's Men. The King's Men became the leading theater group. During this period, Shakespeare wrote his most famous tragedies like Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello. But during the last eight years of his life, he wrote only four plays. In 1613 he contributed his last play Henry VIII to the field of drama.
In 1616 Shakespeare's youngest daughter, Judith married Thomas Quiney, and two months later Shakespeare died at the age of 52 on his birthday in 1616. He was buried in the Stratford parish church. Introduction to the poem All the World's a Stage is an extract from William Shakespeare s play As You Like It (Act II, Scene 7). It features one of Shakespeare's most famous monologues which states: "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." This famous monologue is spoken by Jacques. It contains arresting imagery and figures of speech to develop the central metaphor: a person's life span being a play in seven acts. These acts, "seven ages", begin with "the infant/mewling and puking in the nurse's arms" and work through six further vivid verbal sketches, culminating in "second childishness and mere oblivion, /sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything".
Text of the poem ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE 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, 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 bard, Jealous in honor, 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 Into the lean and slippered 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, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. - Jacques (As You Like It - Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166) - Critical Interpretation "All the World's a Stage" is the phrase that begins with a monologue spoken by the melancholy character, Jacques in Act II Scene VII of William Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play, and catalogues the seven stages of a man's life: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood. All the World s a Stage is the most frequently-quoted phrases, because it has a deep meaning of life, it is in sonnet form with twenty eight lines. All the World s a Stage is considered as the most favorite passage that is quoted by people all over the world. To understand the poem entitled All the World s a Stage; one needs to know slightly about the story of the play. As You like It is one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies. The heroine,
Rosalind is praised as one of his most inspiring characters and has more lines than any of Shakespeare's female characters. Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke falls in love with Orlando who is the disinherited son of the duke's friend. Similarly Rosalind also experiences the same, when she is banished from the court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick. Rosalind disguises and switches gender as Ganymede and travels with her loyal cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone to the Forest of Arden where her father and his friends live in exile. Observations on life and love follow the friends and families and they are reunited. By the end of the play, Ganymede, once again Rosalind marries Orlando. Other pairs of lovers are also wed, one of them is Celia and Orlando's mean elder brother Oliver, as Oliver becomes a gentle, kind young man so the Duke conveniently changes his ways and turns him to religion so that the exiled Duke, father of Rosalind, can rule once again.
After knowing the story, it will be easy to understand the poem itself. The extract from As You Like It has philosophical implications. Shakespeare s philosophy of life is reflected through this poem. The character Jacques is the mouthpiece of the poet. He thinks that the whole world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely actors. They have their entrances and their exits, and in his lifetime a man will play many roles, his life is divided into seven stages. In the first act, he is an infant, whimpering and puking in his nurse s arms. Then he is the whining schoolboy with a book, bag and a bright, young face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Then he becomes a lover, huffing and puffing like a furnace as he writes sad poems about his mistress s eyebrows. In the fourth act, he is a soldier, full of foreign curses, with a beard like a panther, eager to defend his honour and quick to fight. On the battlefield, he puts himself in front of the cannon s mouth, risking his life to seek fame that is as fleeting as a soap bubble. In the fifth act, he is a judge, with a nice fat belly from all the bribes he has taken. His eyes are stern, and he has given his beard a respectable cut. He is full of wisdom and narrates the stories. In the sixth act, the curtain rises on a skinny
old man in slippers, glasses on his nose and a money bag at his side. The stockings he wore in his youth hang loosely on his shriveled legs now, and his bellowing voice has shrunk back down to a childish squeak. In the last scene of drama of life, the man is full of forgetfulness, and enters his second childhood: without teeth, without eyes, without taste, and without everything. Poetic Devices William Shakespeare has used many poetic devices which he arranged the word to meaningful phrases. The poetic devices found in the poem are analogy, caesura, imagery, oxymoron, simile, etc.: 1. Analogy: Analogy is a comparison of two things by explaining one to show how it is similar to the other. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; The word World is compared with Stage whereas All the men and women are compared with Players 2. Caesura: Caesura is pausing or stopping within a line of poetry caused by needed punctuation. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail
The punctuation of commas (,) are used to pause the phrase in order to strengthen the meaning and to ease the reader get the meaning of it. Imagery: Imagery is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perceptions referred to in a poem. Imagery involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, (line 17) With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;(line 21) For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice (line 23) And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all (line 25) Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. (line 28) A poet uses these words or phrases to stimulate our memory of these senses. These memories can be positive or negative which will contribute to the mood of the poem.
Oxymoron: the use of contradictory terms (together) for effect is called oxymoron. And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; The word Men contradicts to Women and also the word Exit contradict to Entrance. 3. Simile: the comparison of two unlike things by saying one is like or as the other is called simile. Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad The poet refers to the passion of men as the furnace. 4. Free Verse: a poem without either a rhyme or a rhythm scheme, although rhyme may be used, just without a pattern. The pattern of the present poem is unstructured, there is no rhyme scheme as it is found in the other classic poems. 5. Theme: The central idea, topic, or didactic quality of a work. All the world is a stage is the central idea of the poem. It is about life compared to the stage. The stage is the analogy of life with men and women as the players. 6. Sonnet: a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; traditionally its subject is love. Three variations are found frequently in English sonnets. Traditionally sonnet contains fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, but this poem contains 28 lines.
7. Point of View: The author s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or teller of the story or poem. This may be considered the poem s voice the persistent presence behind the overall work. This is also sometimes referred to as the persona. 1 st Person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses I ). 3 rd Person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters through the limited perceptions of one other person. 3 rd Person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to know and describe what all the characters are thinking. 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; His acts being seven ages. In the poem All the World s a Stage, the point of view used is 3 rd person omniscient. The poet runs his function as the narrator and determiner at the same time. He describes and explains his
characters obviously. As it is seen in line 5 through the last line, that tells about the ages of men and the process of it.