Advertisements
Advertisements
प्रश्न
Read the poem again and write an appreciation of the poem in paragraph format.
उत्तर
The poem 'All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare is taken from Shakespeare's play 'As you like it. It is a monologue (a loud speech to oneself) by one of the characters in the play. In this poem Shakespeare compares life to a stage. He has divided life into seven stages, each having its own varied qualities and features. The theme of the poem is the cycle of life. It tells us how one starts out as an infant helpless, without understanding, and ends the same way, without being aware of what is happening around one.
The poem is written in blank verse i.e. there is no rhyme scheme, but there is a steady rhythm of five beats in each line. There are many figures of speech. like Simile, Alliteration and Repetition, but the one that stands out is Metaphor. In the lines 'All the world's a stage. And all men and women are merely players', there is an implied comparison between two different things.
The special feature of the poem is the imagery.
Many of the lines create a picture before our eyes and help us to imagine the seven stages in man's life. The narrative style used by the poet gives continuity to the poem, where one stage smoothly goes into the next. This is one of the most famous and quoted poems of Shakespeare. It is entirely metaphorical. My favourite line is 'All the world's a stage, And all men and women are merely players.' I like this line because it describes correctly how we must look at life. I like the poem because it shows us the cycle of life, of which everyone is a part.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Read the following extract and do the given activities:
A1. Match the following:
| 'A' | 'B' | ||
| i. | Infant | a. | Act like the pard |
| ii. | Schoolboy | b. | Mewling and puking |
| iii. | Lovers | c. | Whining |
| iv. | Solider | d. | Sighing like furnace |
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
A2. Complete the following table:
| Stages of man | Role | Qualities/Action |
| First | ||
| Second |
A3. All the world’s stage:
a. Alliteration
b. Metaphor
c. Simile
(Choose the correct answer from the given options and explain the chosen figure of
speech)
Pair up with your partner and name the following:
- The Seven wonders of the world- _________
- The Seven continents - ____________
- The Seven colours of the rainbow- ________
- The Seven notes of the musical scale- ________
- The Seven seas of the world - ________
Life is often compared to many things. Write down 7 things that life can be compared to and justify the comparison. For example,
- Life is a keyboard; if you press the right keys. you have typed a good destiny.
- _____________________
- _____________________
- _____________________
- _____________________
- _____________________
- _____________________
Match the approximate ages with the stages.
| No | Age-group | Stages | |
| 1 | Birth to 2 years | a | teenage/adolescence |
| 2 | 3 years to 12 years | b | old age/second childhood |
| 3 | 13 years to 17 years | c | middle - age |
| 4 |
18 years to about 44 years |
d | babyhood/infancy |
| 5 |
About 45 years to 60 years |
e | senior citizen/elderly person |
| 6 |
65 years up to 75 to 80 years |
f | adulthood |
| 7 |
Above 80 years |
g | childhood |
Read the poem carefully and complete the following table.
| Ages of man | Role | Qualities/Actions |
Think and write on your own.
What is the theme/central idea of this poem?
Think and write on your own.
Which two stages of man, described by Shakespeare, sound humorous? Say why.
Think and write on your own.
The last (7th) stage of life sounds very sad and miserable. How can you make old age also cheerful and happy?
Read the summary of the play ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare using the Internet. Find out which character has narrated the above poem and on what occasion. Also, make a list of all the characters of the play.
Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the given points in a paragraph format:
|
All the World’s a Stage All the world’s a stage, - William Shakespeare |
Points:
- The title and the poet of the poem (01)
- Rhyme scheme (01)
- Figures of speech (01)
- Central Idea/Theme (02)
