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.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made to his mistress" eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard; Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon"s mouth. And then the justice,②In fair round belly with good caponlined.
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;⑤Sansteeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
- SHAKESPEARE -As You Like It
WORDS
bubble, empty. entrances, in-comings. eventful, changeful. exits, out-goings. instances, examples. jealous, watchful. mewling, squalling. oblivion, forgetfulness.
reputation, fame. satchel, school-bag. shrunk, shrivelled. spectacles, glasses. unwillingly, reluctantly. whining, peevish. woful, melancholy.
NOTES
① The pard, the panther; but used in poetry for any spotted animal. Pardus is Latin for panther; and leopardus for lion panther. The poet here compares the soldier"s beard to the whiskers of the panther, which give it a very fierce aspect.
② Capon, fowl fattened for the table.
③ Beard of formal cut.-This is the pointed "legal" beard of the sixteenth century, such as we see in portraits of Lord Bacon, as well as of Ralegh and Spenser, and of Shakespeare himself. It was of a different cut from the "military" beard of the soldier, and from the long "clerical" beard, or the broad, spade-shaped beard of the civilian. Beards went out of fashion in England at the Restoration (1600); but their use again became popular about the middle of the nineteenth century.
④ Pantaloon, a slovenly and silly old man. The name was originally given to a covetous old dotard in Italian comedy; and then to a buffoon in pantomimes.
⑤ Sans, without: a French word adopted in English without change of spelling; but it is pronounced as an English word.