In Act II, Scene 7 of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It," the jaded, cynical, and melancholy Jaques outlines what he sees as the seven ages of man, opening with these famous lines:
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.
He continues, then, to expound on the seven ages of man. They are
- The infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
- The whining school-boy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school.
- The lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow.
- The soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth.
(Pard refers to the leopard; the soldier's beard is being compared to a leopard's whiskers.)
- The justice, in fair round belly with good capon lin'd, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances.
(A capon is a fattened chicken prepared as a delicacy, and lin'd here means more like "stuffed." Proverbially, a capon refers to a bribe. Wise saws refers to old sayings, and modern instances are trite sayings.)
- The lean and slipper'd pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side, his youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide for his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound.
(A pantaloon is a foolish old man.)
- Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
(Here, mere means "complete." Second childishness and mere oblivion is a fancy way of saying "old age and death.")