Educational Notes

a. Why does the poet compare the world with a stage?

Ans: The poet compares the world to a stage to show that life is like a play where everyone plays different roles at different times. This metaphor helps explain how humans go through various phases or "acts" in life.

b. What is the first stage in a human’s life? In what sense can it be a troubling stage?

Ans: The first stage is infancy, when a person is a helpless baby, “mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.” It is troubling because the baby is totally dependent on others and faces discomfort and vulnerability.

c. Describe the second stage of life based on the poem.

Ans: The second stage is the schoolboy stage, where the child reluctantly goes to school with a “whining” attitude, feeling slow and unwilling, like a snail creeping to class.

d. Why is the last stage called second childhood?

Ans: The last stage is called second childhood because, like a baby, the elderly lose their strength, memory, and independence and become dependent again, needing care like a child.

e. In what sense are we the players in the world stage?

Ans: We are players because we take on different roles throughout life—child, lover, soldier, judge—and act out these roles until our “exit” from the stage, which is death.

a. Explain the following lines:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players

Ans: These lines mean that life is like a theatrical play, and every person has a role to play. Just as actors perform their parts on a stage, humans go through different phases and experiences in life.

b. Explain the following lines briefly with Reference to the context:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

Ans: This means that like actors entering and leaving a stage, people are born (entrance) and die (exit). During their lives, they take on many different roles or “parts.”

c. Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow:
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.

i. Which stage of life is being referred to here by the poet?
Ans: The schoolboy stage of childhood.

ii. Which figure of speech has been employed in the second line?
Ans: Simile, comparing the boy’s slow movement to a snail.

iii. Who is compared to the snail?
Ans: The schoolboy is compared to the snail.

iv. Does the boy go to the school willingly?
Ans: No, he goes unwillingly, showing reluctance and discomfort.

d. Simile and metaphor are the two major poetic devices used in this poem. Explain citing examples of each.

Ans: A simile directly compares two things using “like” or “as,” such as “creeping like snail.” A metaphor directly states one thing is another, like “All the world’s a stage.” Both devices help illustrate life’s stages vividly.

e. Which style does the poet use to express his emotions about how he thinks that the world is a stage and all the people living in it are mere players?

Ans: The poet uses a dramatic monologue style with metaphorical and descriptive language to explain his philosophical view of life as a performance with distinct roles and stages.

f. What is the theme of this poem?

Ans: The theme is the transitory nature of human life and the different roles people play throughout their lifetime, emphasizing life’s stages from birth to death.

a. Describe the various stages of human life picturised in the poem "All the world’s a stage."

Ans: The poem depicts seven stages: infant (helpless baby), schoolboy (reluctant learner), lover (passionate youth), soldier (ambitious and aggressive), justice (wise and mature), old age (weak and dependent), and second childhood (loss of faculties, returning to dependence).

b. Is Shakespeare’s comparison of human’s life with a drama stage apt? How?

Ans: Yes, it is apt because life involves changes, roles, and performances we take on in different situations, just like actors in a play. This comparison helps us understand the cyclical and performative aspects of human existence.