William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet and playwright considered the greatest writer in the English language. He wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and several other poems between 1589-1613. His plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more than any other playwright. The passage from Shakespeare's As You Like It describes the seven stages of a man's life: infant, whining schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childishness in old age. It depicts how people enter and exit life's stage, playing many roles throughout the seven ages.

1. The Seven Ages
William Shakespeare

2. Bio-Graphy :
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (born26 April 1564; died 23 April
1616)was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as
the greatest writer in the English language and the world's
pre-eminent dramatist.He is often called England's national
poet and the "Bard of Avon".His surviving works, including
some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,154 sonnets,
two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays
have been translated into every major living language and are
performed more often than those of any other playwright.

3. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At
the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had
three children: Susanna, and twins Ham net and Judith.
Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in
London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing
company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as
the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford
around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of
Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been
considerable speculation about such matters as his physical
appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works
attributed to him were written by others.

4. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589
and 1613.His early plays were mainly comedies and histories,
genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by
the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies
until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and
Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English
language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also
known as romances, and collaborated with other
playwrights.
Many of his plays were published in editions of varying
quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his
former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a
collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but
two of the plays now recognized as Shakespeare's.

5. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own
day, but his reputation did not rise to its present
heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular,
acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians
worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George
Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the 20th century,
his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new
movements in scholarship and performance. His plays
remain highly popular today and are constantly studied,
performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and
political contexts throughout the world.

6. All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and 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.

7. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, 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 lin’d,
With eyes severe ,and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances
And so he plays his part.

8. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. The thirdstage is his early youth, the
peak of love and highromance. He
sighs like a burning furnace and
sings the sad ballads of romance; full
of woe; affected with, characterized
by, or indicatingwoe: woeful
melodies; to impress his lover’s heart.
The impression of her replycan be
seen in her eyebrows.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. The sixth stage is the middle-age. 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. His voice
begins to descend to a lower tone

16. 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.