Shakespeare: All the world's a stage
Photo: Boys on Bamboo Stilits, China; 1800s.
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All the world's a stage,
And all the men and woman 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 school-boy, 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 slipper'd 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 to 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 every thing.
(Shakespeare)
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Recommended Reading:
'Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Bible: A Spiritual Interpretation with Christian'
By Ira B. Zinman (Author), Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales (Author)
Purchase Book:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Description:
2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of William Shakespeare's Sonnets. For centuries there has been a raging debate about whether or not Shakespeare was a spiritual person and the extent to which he used the Bible as a source and inspiration in his work. While Shakespeare's plays have garnered much of the attention, discussions have seldom presented a complete exploration of his Sonnets. This book gives a detailed examination of Shakespeare's Sonnets, identifying their underlying themes at the religious and scriptural levels of interpretation. Christian readers and admirers of Shakespeare will be fascinated to learn the extent to which the most widely read author in the English-speaking world relied upon the Bible as an inspiration for his work.
'Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Bible: A Spiritual Interpretation with Christian'
By Ira B. Zinman (Author), Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales (Author)
Purchase Book:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Description:
2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of William Shakespeare's Sonnets. For centuries there has been a raging debate about whether or not Shakespeare was a spiritual person and the extent to which he used the Bible as a source and inspiration in his work. While Shakespeare's plays have garnered much of the attention, discussions have seldom presented a complete exploration of his Sonnets. This book gives a detailed examination of Shakespeare's Sonnets, identifying their underlying themes at the religious and scriptural levels of interpretation. Christian readers and admirers of Shakespeare will be fascinated to learn the extent to which the most widely read author in the English-speaking world relied upon the Bible as an inspiration for his work.
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