🌟EASY EXPLANATION: All the World’s a Stage🌟
🌟✨All the World’s a Stage ✨🌟
✍️ – William Shakespeare
🔹 Line 1: All the world’s a stage,
➡️ “World” means the Earth where people live.
➡️ “Stage” means a place where actors perform.
📖 Simple Meaning: The poet says that the whole world is like a big stage where people live their lives, just like actors who perform roles in a drama. Everyone has a part to play in this big show called life.
🔹 Line 2: And all the men and women merely players;
➡️ “Men and women” means all people.
➡️ “Merely players” means they are only actors.
📖 Simple Meaning: The poet tells us that every person is like an actor. They come into the world, act their parts, and leave. Life is like a play, and everyone has a small role to perform.
🔹 Line 3: They have their exits and their entrances;
➡️ “Exits” means leaving the stage (death).
➡️ “Entrances” means coming on the stage (birth).
📖 Simple Meaning: People are born (entrance) and die (exit), just like actors coming and going from the stage. Life is a journey where we enter and leave at different times.
🔹 Line 4: And one man in his time plays many parts,
➡️ “Plays many parts” means acts different roles.
📖 Simple Meaning: In his lifetime, a person acts many roles. As he grows, his duties, behavior, and work keep changing, just like an actor changes costumes and characters in a play.
🔹 Line 5: His acts being seven ages.
➡️ “Acts” means different roles.
➡️ “Seven ages” means seven stages of life.
📖 Simple Meaning: The poet divides human life into seven different stages. Each stage is like a different part or chapter that a person lives through, from birth to old age.
🔹 Line 6: At first, the infant,
➡️ “Infant” means a very small baby.
📖 Simple Meaning: The first stage of life is a baby. The baby is helpless and needs care from others for everything.
🔹 Line 7: Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
➡️ “Mewling” means crying softly.
➡️ “Puking” means vomiting.
➡️ “Nurse’s arms” means being held by a caretaker.
📖 Simple Meaning: As a baby, a person cries and vomits in the nurse’s or mother’s arms. The baby cannot do anything alone and depends fully on others.
🔹 Line 8: Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
➡️ “Whining” means complaining.
➡️ “Satchel” means school bag.
📖 Simple Meaning: The next stage is a young boy who goes to school. He often complains and carries a bag on his shoulder, feeling lazy and unhappy about going to school.
🔹 Line 9: And shining morning face, creeping like snail
➡️ “Shining morning face” means clean and fresh face.
➡️ “Creeping like snail” means moving very slowly.
📖 Simple Meaning: The schoolboy’s face looks bright and fresh in the morning, but he walks very slowly to school, just like a snail, because he does not want to go.
🔹 Line 10: Unwillingly to school.
➡️ “Unwillingly” means not wanting to go.
📖 Simple Meaning: The boy does not want to go to school. He drags himself there slowly and sadly because he would rather stay home and play.
🔹 Line 11: And then the lover,
➡️ “Lover” means a young person in love.
📖 Simple Meaning: As he grows older, he becomes a young lover. He falls in love and feels deep emotions in his heart.
🔹 Line 12: Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
➡️ “Sighing like furnace” means breathing heavily like a hot oven.
➡️ “Woeful ballad” means a sad song or poem.
📖 Simple Meaning: The young lover sighs deeply, feeling strong emotions of love. He writes and sings sad songs about his feelings for his beloved.
🔹 Line 13: Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.
➡️ “Mistress” means beloved girl.
➡️ “Eyebrow” means he praises even small things like her eyebrow.
📖 Simple Meaning: The lover is so deeply in love that he writes songs even about tiny things, like the eyebrow of the girl he loves. His heart is full of love.
🔹 Line 14: Then a soldier,
➡️ “Soldier” means a brave fighter.
📖 Simple Meaning: After the lover stage, the man becomes a strong and brave soldier, ready to protect and fight.
🔹 Line 15: Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
➡️ “Strange oaths” means unusual promises.
➡️ “Bearded like the pard” means beard like a leopard’s rough skin.
📖 Simple Meaning: As a soldier, he makes many strange promises. He has a thick and rough beard, making him look strong and wild like a leopard.
🔹 Line 16: Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
➡️ “Jealous in honour” means very protective about his respect.
➡️ “Quick in quarrel” means fights quickly.
📖 Simple Meaning: The soldier is very serious about his honor. He easily gets angry and quickly fights to defend his pride and name.
🔹 Line 17: Seeking the bubble reputation
➡️ “Bubble reputation” means a short-lived fame.
📖 Simple Meaning: The soldier wants to become famous and get a good name, but reputation is compared to a bubble, which can burst easily and does not last long.
🔹 Line 18: Even in the cannon’s mouth.
➡️ “Cannon’s mouth” means dangerous place in war.
📖 Simple Meaning: The soldier is so eager for fame that he is ready to risk his life and face dangerous situations like standing near a cannon in battle.
🔹 Line 19: And then the justice,
➡️ “Justice” means a wise judge or a responsible man.
📖 Simple Meaning: After the brave soldier stage, the man becomes a judge or a wise man. He now lives a peaceful and respected life.
🔹 Line 20: In fair round belly with good capon lined,
➡️ “Fair round belly” means fat stomach.
➡️ “Good capon lined” means eating good rich food.
📖 Simple Meaning: The judge has become fat because of eating rich food. He enjoys a comfortable life full of good meals and luxury.
🔹 Line 21: With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
➡️ “Eyes severe” means serious-looking eyes.
➡️ “Beard of formal cut” means neatly trimmed beard.
📖 Simple Meaning: The man has serious eyes and a properly cut beard, showing that he is strict, mature, and respected in society.
🔹 Line 22: Full of wise saws and modern instances;
➡️ “Wise saws” means old wise sayings.
➡️ “Modern instances” means examples from modern life.
📖 Simple Meaning: The judge is full of advice and uses wise sayings and real-life examples to teach others. He shares his experience and knowledge.
🔹 Line 23: And so he plays his part.
➡️ “Plays his part” means acts his role.
📖 Simple Meaning: Like in earlier stages, now too he is acting out the role of a judge. Life keeps moving from one part to the next part, just like a play.
🔹 Line 24: The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
➡️ “Lean” means thin.
➡️ “Slippered pantaloon” means old man wearing slippers and loose clothes.
📖 Simple Meaning: Now the man grows old, becomes very thin, wears slippers and loose pants. His body has lost the strength and power it once had.
🔹 Line 25: With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
➡️ “Spectacles” means eyeglasses.
➡️ “Pouch” means small bag.
📖 Simple Meaning: The old man wears glasses on his nose and carries a small bag. He needs help for everything now, and his body is weak and tired.
🔹 Line 26: His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank,
➡️ “Youthful hose” means pants from younger days.
➡️ “Shrunk shank” means thin legs.
📖 Simple Meaning: The clothes he wore when he was young are now too loose for him because his legs have become thin and weak with age.
🔹 Line 27: and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.
➡️ “Big manly voice” means strong adult voice.
➡️ “Childish treble” means weak and high childlike voice.
Meanings for understanding
✅ Meanings given in the text book :
- satchel : school bag
- pard : poetical short form of ‘leopard’
- cannon’s mouth : facing great danger to life
- youthful hose : close-fitting covering for legs
- players : actors
- exits and entrances : birth and death (coming into the world and leaving it)
- puking : throwing up, vomiting
- woeful ballad : sad poem or sad song
- with good capon lined : with excess fat from careless eating habits
- saws : wise sayings or old advice
- shank : lower part of the leg (knee to ankle)
- second childishness : a return to the helpless, child-like state in old age
- sans : without
- oblivion : a state where a person is unaware of surroundings and forgets everything
- treble : (here) voice becomes three times weaker and thin like a child
✅ Other Important Simple Meanings:
- All the world’s a stage : The world is like a big stage where everyone acts their part.
- merely players : only actors (people who are acting out life).
- acts : roles or different parts played by people in life.
- infant : a small baby.
- mewling : crying softly like a kitten.
- nurse’s arms : arms of the woman who looks after babies.
- whining schoolboy : a boy who cries or complains about going to school.
- creeping like snail : walking very slowly, like a snail.
- lover : a young man deeply in love.
- sighing like furnace : breathing heavily and sadly, like a hot furnace.
- mistress’ eyebrow : the lover writes sad songs thinking about his beloved’s face.
- soldier : a brave fighter, ready for battles.
- strange oaths : strange promises or strong words soldiers use.
- jealous in honour : very protective about his name and respect.
- sudden and quick in quarrel : ready to fight quickly without thinking much.
- bubble reputation : reputation that is very short-lived and can burst quickly.
- cannon’s mouth : dangerous place (front of a gun).
- justice : a judge, a wise man who gives fair advice.
- fair round belly : big, fat stomach.
- beard of formal cut : neatly trimmed beard.
- wise saws and modern instances : old sayings and new examples.
- slippered pantaloon : old man wearing loose slippers and pants.
- spectacles on nose : wearing glasses to see.
- pouch on side : small bag or hanging belly at the side.
- shrunk shank : thin and weak legs.
- manly voice turning towards childish treble : deep voice becoming thin and soft like a child’s voice.
- pipes and whistles in his sound : old man’s voice becomes weak and shaky.
- strange eventful history : life full of many different events and experiences.
- last scene : the final stage of life (death).