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Grade Eleven: Seven Stages of Man - by William Shakespeare

The first poem, "Seven Stages of Man" by William Shakespeare, describes the seven ages of man from infancy to old age. It depicts each stage from a mewling and puking infant to a second childishness in old age without senses. The second poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, recounts the famous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. It describes the suicidal cavalry charge into the valley of death against enemy cannon fire, where though facing death the soldiers obey orders to charge without question.

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Thankeswaran Vipusayan
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1K views5 pages

Grade Eleven: Seven Stages of Man - by William Shakespeare

The first poem, "Seven Stages of Man" by William Shakespeare, describes the seven ages of man from infancy to old age. It depicts each stage from a mewling and puking infant to a second childishness in old age without senses. The second poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, recounts the famous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. It describes the suicidal cavalry charge into the valley of death against enemy cannon fire, where though facing death the soldiers obey orders to charge without question.

Uploaded by

Thankeswaran Vipusayan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GRADE ELEVEN

Seven Stages of Man – 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;

And 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.

The Charge of the Light Brigade - by Alfred Lord


Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred:

"Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns‘ he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay‘d?

Not tho the soldier knew

Some one had blunder‘d:


Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die,

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley‘d and thunder‘d;

Storm‘d at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash‘d all their sabres bare,

Flash‘d as they turn‘d in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army while

All the world wonder‘d:

Plunged in the battery-smoke


Right thro‘ the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel‘d from the sabre-stroke,

Shatter‘d and sunder‘d.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred

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