Reading 03

This next poem is by William Shakespeare.

The Seven Ages of Man

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 . . . in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining schoolboy,with his satchel
And shining morning face . . .And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace . . . Then a soldier
Full of strange oaths . . . Jealous of honor,
Sudden and quick in quarrel . . . And then the
justice . . .
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.
. . . 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,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

1. What attitude does the speaker reveal by using
the word merely in the second line?
a. sorrow
b. anger
c. amusement
d. indifference

2. What characterizes the period of life represented
by the soldier?
a. brash behavior
b. his sense of honor
c. his dedication to duty
d. his fear of cowardice

3. What is the main idea of this poem?
a. Life is a misery that never gets any better at any time.
b. Life is what each of us makes of it during our journey down the river of eternity.
c. Life is a play and it follows a specific script, none of which should cause anguish or sorrow.
d. Life is a comedy, and we are all buffoons in pantaloons no matter what we do.

4. What is the theme of the poem?
a. Death is to be feared.
b. Life is a circle that brings us back to the beginning.
c. The male of the species is the only true measure of the stages of life.
d. The stages of life are unrelated and can be altered by each individual’s free will.

5. The poet uses the words merely (line 2) and mere (line 20)
a. to soften the effect of the strong images he presents to us in those lines.
b. to tie together his theme of the cycle of life.
c. convey his tone to the reader.
d. all of the above.