Share this page :
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 / Warwickshire)
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 pard,
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.
Read poems about / on: ballad, soldier, justice, history, school, women, world, woman
People who read William Shakespeare also read
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
Invictus
William Ernest Henley
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
The last line of this poem is just so haunting. That's probably the reason why I like it so much. It makes you appreacite life a little more.
Oh Shakespeare. He's just great isn't he?
to some extent i m agree with Alex Roth, the legendry shakespears seems to be a Myth Like figure....
no doubt he versed and immitated well that time classic litetature from Translations,
what had written abt him, it clouded more his true identity.....
personally i admire his dramatic art and Skill, but being a geniun literary gaint..... there are lots of Ys anf Fs......
Morlow seems to be a more real and prolific than shakespear in terms of poetic expression.... | Delete this message
William Shakespeare is a amazing poet. His poems are always showing you the feeling or emotion. Just splendid. Bravo, I just ....Bravo
Shakespeare, in my opinion, is so-so as a poet. Some of his plays are o.k. But if you take away the pretentious mystique of the old English language and all the history and legendary pageantry surrounding his work (which may have been authored by more than one men or many other men singularly) , you find a mediocre, at best, sonneteer and blank verse poet. His poems are no better or worse than other poets of similar style. Oscar Wilde is the same way, intelligent man, fascinating life, but weak poetry and so-so plays. Wilde's best work was De Profundis, which were letters from Reading Gaol addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas. Even then, the language is pretentious and discursive to the point of maddening excess. For that matter, most poetry is terrible, save a few passionate and inspired poets.
All the World's a Stage is one of my fvrt poems...........I just love it everytime i read it..... :)
An interesting poem but the scenario's presented do they not seem more recent than 400 plus years ago. What about the whining schoolboy, with his satchel, unwillingly to school. I don't think that scenario could have existed when this poem was supposed to have been written. What about the idea that this poem was written long after 1600. I would be interested in what you guys think about what I have said. Bye
impressive write very imaginative..very good description of the stages of life.. :)
i am in the 2nd stage! ! ! i really love this poem!
i love it.it is one of my fav.! even everytime i read it, my eyes become wet because when my teacher was teaching me this poem, she told that when a child is born we celebrate and become very happy, but an old person who is like a small child, who is dependent like a small child, then why we didn't behave good with the old one, why we always think that he or she is a burden on us? ? ! i really didn't understand....! i feel ashamed of the person who think like that for an old person...!