All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare

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 and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
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
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
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
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.
In this poem, figurative language is used in the forms of metaphors, similes and hyperboles. In the first part, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances," means that the poet is comparing the world to a stage, including everyone's different roles and responsibilities. It is a metaphor as a stage is used to describe the world, and everyone plays a part in it. In a stage, there are exits and entrances, everyone also enters and exits the world. The phrase "Turning again towards childish treble" is also a metaphor. The meaning of treble in this context is a high-pitched sound. In music, it is used to represent more high-pitched notes that instruments can play. The poet tells us that the once big man whose voice was deep had grown old and his voices were beginning to sound like pipes, which were more high-pitched. In the next line, "whistles in his sound" is a metaphor which tells us clearly that the old man was not in good health anymore. The phrase "Even in the cannon's mouth" is a hyperbole as it emphasizes on the soldier's desire to seek a good reputation, even in the face of death. A hyperbole is an exaggeration of the truth. The line "And shining morning face, creeping like snail" has a simile which is creeping like snail. This shows the reluctance of the schoolboy when going to school in the morning. In the next line, there is also a simile "Sighing like furnace", which compares the lover's sigh to the loud sound of a furnace. We can tell that he is deeply grieved. The phrase "bearded like the pard" is a simile as it gives us the impression that the soldier is bearded. The similes in this poem have the word "like" in them.
I like this poem written by William Shakespeare as it has a very good structure and the whole poem is like an act. How is it so? At the start, he uses a stage to represent the world, and they are actually similar in many ways. The act begins when a "player enters the stage" as an infant. The poem slowly begins to build up as the infant grows up. In a way, this poem also gives us a hint of the lives of people at that time. When the schoolboy grows up, he falls in love but apparently gets rejected, which explains his sorrow. He then becomes a soldier with a big beard. After that, he becomes a justice, he is well-fed as he has a fair round belly. His beard is also cut. When he grows old, the poet gives us a good description of his appearance. Finally, the act is over when the old man dies. That is his "exit" from the stage. This poem is unique as it includes the lives of people of different ages.