How are the poem 'If' and seven ages of man different?

Answer 1

No, it is not. It is a speech from a play by William Shakespeare called As You Like It, and is spoken by a melancholic, or as you might say, chronically depressed character called Jaques (pronounced Jay-queeze). The play has numerous song lyrics, which might be described as poetry, but this is not one of them.

Answer 2

"If" is a poem. "The Seven Ages of Man" is a speech from a play. That's the biggest difference. "If" was written by Kipling, in the nineteenth century; As You Like It (the play the speech comes from) was written by William Shakespeare in the sixteenth century.

"If" is Kipling speaking. He is making a didactic statement about what it means to be a mature person. ("Then you'll be a man, my son.") Its tone is earnest and moralizing. The poem is directed to the reader.

The seven ages is not Shakespeare speaking. The speaker is Jaques, a character known to be cynical and chronically depressed. He is not talking to a reader--in fact Shakespeare never intended those words to be read by anyone other than the actor playing Jaques--but rather to another character in the play, Duke Senior. The Duke has just pointed out to Jaques that he ought to cheer up because some people are worse off than he is. Jaques then tries to respond with this speech which says that everyone is pretty much the same, so don't try to tell me that somebody is worse off than I am. Jaques's tone is cynical; he sneers at the creeping schoolboy and the sighing lover, and ends with the sad reflection that we will all end up in some old folks' home, drooling in our porridge.

Answer 3

The poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling focuses on imparting wisdom on how to lead a virtuous and successful life, while Shakespeare's "The Seven Ages of Man" describes the different stages of a person's life from infancy to old age. "If" emphasizes personal development and character traits, whereas "The Seven Ages of Man" depicts the broader journey of life stages.

Answer 4

The first refers to the whole of a lifespan.

The second applies to growing up, holistically to become a man.