It is one of Shakespeare's most frequently-quoted passages.

The poem commences with life being compared to a huge stage where all of us are only actors. Each
person has an entry into the world at birth and exits it at death.

According to Shakespeare, every man plays several parts during his life time. On the stage of life every
man has seven acts. The first act of man is infancy. At this time all that the baby does is cry and puke on
his nurse's lap. After he goes through his infant life, he emerges as a school child who slings his bag over
his shoulder and creeps most unwillingly to school.

At the next stage in life, the young man is a lover who is busy composing ballads for his beloved and
sighing deeply for her attention. He graduates into a bearded soldier who promises solemnly to guard his
country. He is filled with national pride, is quick to be insulted and is always ready to spring up in defence.
At this point of time he is more concerned with status and reputation. From the agile soldier, he goes on to
become a judge whose waistline grows as he becomes fatter and fatter. He wears a short, formal beard and
his eyes become intense. He is full of wisdom, speaking to everyone in a just and wise manner.

After he has played this part, he goes into the sixth age. He becomes thin, wears spectacles, the skin
around him hangs loosely. He is made fun of as being a funny old man. His youth has been left behind. His
clothes hang loosely around him and his once manly voice turns into a high pitched, childish one. With
this, man enters the last act where he experiences his second childhood as he becomes dependent on
people once more. He is overcome by senility and forgetfulness, as he loses his faculties of sight, hearing,
smell and taste, slowly but surely, and ultimately dies.

Seven Ages of Man is an extract from the romantic comedy As you like it, written by William Shakespeare.
It is set in the forest of Arden, where the senior Duke lives in exile with a band of loyal courtiers. These
lines are spoken by one of the characters, Jaques, who is given to a lot of philosophizing. Through a series
of deft strokes , he etches a realistic picture of the different phases of a man's life. However, his view of the
seven ages in the life of man is by no means comprehensive or impartial. Here,Jaques makes a rather
conventional comparison between the different stages of a man's life and the acts of a play.

The man in the poem goes through these stages all expressed in a sardonic when not bitter
tone:

1. Infancy: In this stage he is a helpless baby and knows little.

2. Whining Schoolboy: It is in that stage of life that he begins to go to school. He is
unwilling to leave the protected environment of his home as he is still not confident
enough to exercise his own discretion.
3. The Lover: In this stage he is always maudlin, expressing his love in a fatuous
manner. He makes himself ridiculous in trying to express his feelings.
4. The Soldier: He is very easily aroused and is hot headed. He is always working
towards making a reputation for himself, however short-lived it may be, even at the
cost of foolish risks.
5. The Justice: In this stage he thinks he has acquired wisdom through the many
experiences he has had in life, and is likely to impart it. He has reached a stage
where he has gained prosperity and social status. He becomes vain and begins to
enjoy the finer things of life.
6. Old Age: He is a shell of his former self — physically and mentally. He begins to
become the butt of others' jokes. He loses his firmness and assertiveness, and
shrinks in stature and personality.
7. Incapacity: Dependent on others for care and unable to interact with the world, he
experiences "second innocence, and mere oblivion."

SARDONIC disdainfully mocking: disdainfully or cynically mocking

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Shakespeare did not invent the idea of the stages of life: philosophers have been addressing it for millennia.
Aristotle had four ages of man and they were extended to seven in the middle ages where philosophical and
religious lists were usually in sevens. (The seven deadly sins, the seven sacraments, the seven heavenly virtues,
and so on). By the time the Elizabethan age arrived it was a most familiar idea and Shakespeare’s audience
would immediately have recognized the concept
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,
5 His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
10 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
15 Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
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
20 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
25 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.