What are the similes in the poem seven ages of man by William Shakespeare?

Answer 1

The Seven Ages of Man' is taken from William Shakespeare's famous play, 'As You Like It' (Act-II, Scene-VII), describes the seven phases in a man's life-from childhood to old age. The world is but a global stage and all men and women presented here are mere puppets in the hands of destiny. Just like the infrastructures of a stage, the world has its own entrances and exits. Every man in his full lifetime has many parts to play. His total number of acts in his lifetime is the seven ages.

The first and foremost act of every human being is the stage of infancy, where he makes his presence felt by crying at the top of his voice and many a times vomiting any food or drink that is repulsive, at the nursing arms of his mother. This period normally last till four years of age. The second stage is the 'whining' schoolboy where he learns to utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear, supplication, or complaint. His shiny morning face and his satchel; a small bag, sometimes with a shoulder strap; he creeps like a snail and not willing to go to school.

The third stage is his early youth, the peak of love and high romance. He sighs like a burning furnace and sings the sad ballads of romance; full of woe; affected with, characterized by, or indicating woe: woeful melodies; to impress his lover's heart. The impression of her reply can be seen in her eyebrows. The fourth stage is that of a soldier where life if full of obligations, commitments, compliances, oaths and vows. His beard is like a leopard or panther. He endlessly fights for his honor, a full presence of mind which is sudden and quick in quarrel and a heart to maintain a dignified reputation.

The fifth stage is the adult-hood where a man tries to live a fair and justified life. His belly becomes bigger than normal. He is conscious about his diet and consumes a good intake of 'capon'; a cockerel castrated to improve the flesh for use as food. His eyes are severe with seriousness and his beard is leveled to a formal cut. He is to take a lot of correct decisions to keep up with the ever changing times. So this stage is the most powerful stage in life.

The sixth stage is the middle-age. Here is where he prepares himself for the next level in life i.e. old age. He learns to relax from the hustles of life. His strength begins to weaken and spends more time within the roof of his house. He looks like a buffoon and an old fool in his rugged old slippers. He hangs his spectacles on his nose for reading and all his youthful hose; a flexible tube for conveying a liquid, as water, to a desired point; saved for the world too wide. His shank begins to shrink with time; the part of the lower limb in humans between the knee and the ankle; leg. Even his voice begins to descend to a lower tone. In his free time, he smokes his pipe and whistles his matured melodies.

The last stage is the old-age where he enters his second childhood. It is also the beginning of the end of his eventful history. It is also the stage of oblivion; the state of being completely forgotten or unknown; the state of forgetting or of being oblivious; official disregard or overlooking of offenses; He is without everything; without teeth, eyes and taste. Published: June 24, 2010

Answer 2

The seven ages of man is not a poem. It's a speech given by the character Jaques in Act 2 the play As You Like It. The Duke has just pointed out that "This wide and universal theatre presents more woeful pageants than the scene wherein we play in." or in other words, there are people worse off than we are. Jaques fastens on the "wide and universal theatre" image and says that everyone is playing a part, and the parts are pretty much the same for everyone and lead toward a sad end. In the process he uses a lot of similes and some metaphors. "Bubble reputation" is the kind of fame that lasts for a short time then bursts, like a bubble. "Fair round belly with good capon lined" is a metaphor--you don't actually line the inside of your belly like you would a coat, but you do fill the inside with food, like capons (castrated roosters).

Answer 3

The seven ages of man is not a poem. It's a speech given by the character Jaques in Act 2 the play As You Like It. The Duke has just pointed out that "This wide and universal theatre presents more woeful pageants than the scene wherein we play in." or in other words, there are people worse off than we are. Jaques fastens on the "wide and universal theatre" image and says that everyone is playing a part, and the parts are pretty much the same for everyone and lead toward a sad end. In the process he uses a lot of similes and some metaphors. "Creeping like snail", "sighing like a furnace", "bearded like the pard" are some similes.

Answer 4

Man's history on earth seems to be pitiful and comic. He has seven distinct stages in his life in this world which appear as characters one after the other in a play. Infant, school boy, lover, soldier, magistrate, old man and the dying man parts are all played by us one after the other on the stage that is this world, unless untimely called back. Mankind has the longest infancy. Suppose a monkey and a man are born on the same day. When it is one year the monkey will be performing many wonderful feats on the trees, but the human child will still be lying there invalid and unable to do anything by itself. This long period of helpless infancy is a preparation for the future mighty acts to be performed by man. Shakespeare spells this philosophy strongly in the song. A newborn baby kicks and cries in his nurses' arms. The whining school boy with his heavy set of books and a shining morning face creeps like an unwilling snail to his grammer school. Yes, times have not changed. The most beautiful thing in this world to look at is still the morning face of a child going to school, and when he returns in the evening he still looks like coming from a battle field.

The third stage is that of the lover who has loved and lost, who sighs like a hot furnace and sings sad songs about his lost love. Such sentimentality shall be forgiven as it also is a natural stage in the human evolvement. Then the stage of the lover strongly and silently evolves into that of the soldier when sentimentality withdraws and strength appears. In this stage which is unusually colourful and lively, he seeks chivalry and glory and is even ready to explode himself inside the cannon's mouth to gain a bubble reputation though momentary.

Now come the rest three successive stages of the middle aged man, the old man and the dying man which also we act such extremely well that if someone stand outside this world and watch, he would be amazed at how naturally we act. The fifth is a transition period in which man is equipped with the energy of the young and the experience of the old. How fortunate and prime a position to form oneself a statesman! In this middle age he is exceptionally able to distinguish between the right and the wrong and behaves like a magistrate, a man of justice. Then he becomes old, his body becomes weak and he begins to wear light slippers in place of heavy boots. He wears spectacles and his cheeks are baggy. His trousers are now loose and they have become a playground to his thin legs. We may like old men if at least their sounds are sweet and their words are meaningful, but alas, he has now lost several of his teeth and his words have lost their sweetness and meaning. In the seventh and the last stage which ends this strange history of man's life on the world's stage, he looses all his teeth, loses sight and taste and everything else and becomes again a child to close the circle. And perhaps after death he may go beyond this world to reside in other realms of this vast universe, or born again in this world to repeat everything.

Answer 5

it is just saying that how the generation are changing day by day