1. Identify any THREE poetic devices with reference in the poem “All the world's a stage”?’ /3
2. What does Shakespeare mean by the term ‘exits and entrances?’ (25-30 words) /2
3. Why has Shakespeare compared the world to a stage? (35-40 words) /3
4. “Jealous in honour….cannon’s mouth.” Who is the person described in these lines? Which traits characterize this stage? /2
Answers
1. Poetic devices in the poem:
I Metaphors in Seven Ages
1. ‘All the world is a stage’
2. ‘All the men and women merely players’
3. ‘their exists and their entrances’
4. ‘bubble reputation’
5. ‘His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide’
II Simile
1. Sighing like furnace
2. bearded like the pard
III Alliteration
with a woeful ballad
2. ‘Exists’ and ‘entrances’ are metaphors that signify the ‘death’ and ‘birth’ of men and women respectively. In this poem Shakespeare has compared the world to ‘a stage’. He calls all the men and women ‘players’ (actors). Their entrance is their ‘birth’, and their exist is their ‘death’.
3. This extract (poem Seven Ages) from Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’ describes each man’s life as a play in which he plays seven roles. According to the extract the world is a stage and each man is an actor on the stage. Each man plays seven roles during his life time. Shakespeare metaphorically calls the earth as stage because our earth looks like a stage and its inhabitants also look like actors who play different roles. Man's birth is entry on the stage; and his death is the exit. In between he plays seven roles.
4. In the fourth stage he plays the role of a soldier. He is quite temperamental at this stage. He loves honour and reputation. He keeps a beard like that of a leopard. He can even risk his life for the sake of honour and reputation.