1. SUBJECT- ENGLISH
CLASS- IX SECTION -B TOPIC-POEM THE SEVEN AGES - by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE PREPARED BY- KRISHNA KUMARI RANA TGT (ENGLISH)

2. ABOUT THE POET
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Date of Birth-April 23, 1564 at Stratford-upon-Avon
Date of Death-1616
He is considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
Shakespeare used poetic and dramatic means to create unified aesthetic effects. In verse he perfected the dramatic blank verse. 
He wrote a book of 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and about three dozen plays.

3. ABOUT THE POEM ‘The Seven Ages’ is actually one of the
many speeches of a melancholy character
Jaques,in Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’.
The poet compares this world to a stage
of a theatre and all its men and women to actor and actresses.
They take birth,play seven different roles
and die.
ABOUT THE POEM

4. The seven stages of man’s life are:- First stage- an infant
Second stage- school boy
Third stage- lover
Fourth stage- soldier
Fiftg stage justice
Sixth stage-old ‘pantaloon’
Seventh stage - second childishness

6. The poem is written in free verse ;so it has no rhyming scheme.
LITERARY DEVICES
Simile
creeping like snail Sighing like furnace,
bearded like the pard, metaphor
bubble reputation
Alliteration
a world too wide
For his shrunk shank,
Repetition
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

7. 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.

8. Questions
1.What is the poetic device used in the first line ? What has the world been compared to ? 3. ‘All the men and women merely players’ What does it mean ? 4. “ In his time” What does it mean ? 5. What does “exits and entrances” refer to ?

9. Word Meaning 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 .
Word Meaning
mewling crying
puking being sick, vomiting
satchel a small bag
whining crying loudly

10. What are the characteristics of the first stage of human life ?
QUESTIONS
Questions
What are the characteristics of the first stage of human life ?
Why does the schoolboy have a shining face ?
Why is he creeping like a snail ?
Why is he whining ?

11. Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.
Word Meaning
woeful very sad
sighing taking deep breath

12. QUESTIONS
Which poetic device is used in the second line of this stanza ?
What is the lover compared to and why ?
Why is the lover’s ballad described as ‘woeful’ ?

13. Then a soldier.
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard,
Jealous in honour, and sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.
Word Meaning
oath promises
pard leopard
cannon a big gun
bubble reputation short lived fame

14. Then a soldier.
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard,
Jealous in honour, and sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.
Word Meaning
oath promises
pard leopard
cannon a big gun
bubble reputation short lived fame

15. To which stage of life does the soldier belong to ?
What makes the soldier and a pard look alike ?
What is the pard a symbol of ?
What poetic device is used in the fourth line of this stanza ?
What poetic device used in the second line of this stanza ?
Why does the reputation has been described as bubble ?
QUESTIONS

16. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws a modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
Word Meaning
capon big and fat male chicken
justice judge
saws sayings

17. QUESTIONS
a) What does ‘fair and round belly’ indicate ?
b) What does the justice do to show his wisdom ?
c) What are the characteristics of a justice’s stage ?

18. 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 mainly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

19. Word Meaning
slippered wearing slippers
pantaloon a funny old man
pouch a soft fold of loose skin
that hangs down
hose tight fitting leg coverings
shank leg from knee to ankle
treble high voice

20. QUESTIONS
a) What does ‘slippered pantaloon’ indicate ? b) What does ‘youthful hose’ refers to ?
c) What are the characteristics related to this stage of life ?

21. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
word Meaning
oblivion forgetful
sans without

22. QUESTIONS
What does ‘strange and eventful’ history refer to ?
What has the last stage of human life been called?
Explain the characteristics related to this stage of life ?
What does the last line of the stanza highlight about man ?

23. MESSAGE The poem is a cynical comment on the transitoriness(short-
livedness) of life and holds out a
very significant lesson that we
should live our different parts of
life as well as we can in order to live asuccessful life.We should alsoaccept death as the ultimate reality of life.

24. HOME ASSIGNMENT &PROJECT
Write the meaning of new words .
Frame questions stanzawise and write their answers in short.
Find out the literary words used in the poem.
PROJECT
Prepare ppt of this poem in groups(4-5 students in each group.

25. THANK YOU & HAVE A NICE DAY