LESSON PLAN

I – Objectives

1. Explain the message of the poem though guide questions.

2. Cite figures of speech found in the selection.
3. Share their thoughts and feelings about their prior experiences in life.
4. Realize the importance of every stage in human’s life by ….

II – Subject Matter

Topic: The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare

Reference: Bliss Carman, et al. (1904). The World’s Best Poetry. Volume VII. Descriptive:
Narrative. Retrieved February 18, 2016, from: http://www.bartleby.com/360/7/88.html

Materials: Power Point Presentation, Tasks Cards, and Word Cards

III – Procedure

A. Preliminaries
1. Prayer
2. Attendance
3. Classroom Management

B. Motivation

“Free Writing”

1. Divide the class into two groups.

2. Ask the first group of students to write their feelings (words, phrases, or sentences) on what
it means to be a “student” – schoolgirl/schoolboy when they were still in
Kindergarten/Elementary for five minutes.
3. Ask the second group of student to write their feelings (words, phrases, or sentences) on
what it means to be a High School “student” – schoolgirl/schoolboy for five minutes.
4. Let the students share their answers to the class.
5. List down the commonalities of the students’ answers.
6. Let the teacher share his/her feelings to the class and discuss their similarities.

C. Pre-Activity

“Unlocking of Difficult Words”

Cluetionary

1. Give the following words to the class.

Furnace Pard Capon Shank
 Saws Pantaloon Oblivion Shrunk

2. Present the definition one by one and let the student identify if he/she has the right word.
3. Present the sample sentences after the student gets the correct answer. Only those words
which have literal meaning in the poem.

2.1 Being sick, vomiting

Sample Sentence: The baby puked all down my shirt.
2.2 A small weak noise that a cat makes; to cry as a baby, young child, or the like;
whimper
Sample Sentence: It was the thought of ending my days as a drooling, mewling infant—
or worse!
2.3 Without
Sample Sentence: It's great to have a grown-up meal in a restaurant, sans kids!
2.4 Move back or away, especially because of fear or disgust
Sample Sentence: The girl shrank back in fear.
2.5 A shoulder bag that children sometimes use to carry books to school
Sample Sentence: Katie gathered her clothes into a wool satchel and slung it over her
shoulder.
2.6 An object which contains a fire, used for heating
Sample Sentence: People who work with furnaces in a steel factory need to wear
protective clothing.
2.7 A large cat, such as a leopard
2.8 Sayings
2.9 An old man
Sample Sentence: How often have we wished that the pantaloon were our god-father!
2.10 Completely forgotten by other people
Sample Sentence: A former movie star now in oblivion.
2.11 A long, thin, straight part of particular objects
Sample Sentence: The shank of a screwdriver.
2.12 Chicken to eat

D. Procedure
1. Show to the class the picture of William Shakespeare.
2. Let the class tell something about William Shakespeare.
3. Present some trivia about William Shakespeare.
3.1. He is often called as the National Poet and considered the Greatest Dramatist of all Time.
3.2. He was born on or near April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
3.3. William Shakespeare would have attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-
upon-Avon from the age of 7 in 1571 and left school and formal education when he was
fourteen in 1578.
4. Present the picture which has a relative view of the poem “The Seven Ages of Man”:

5. Let the student describe the picture.

6. Present the poem “The Seven Ages 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
7. Let the teacher read the poem and be followed by the students.
8. Divide the class into three groups.
8.1. Each group will have different set of questions.

8.2. Each group is assigned to different lines of the poem “The Seven Ages of Man”.

GROUP 1

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 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.

1. What does the word “stage” represent for?

2. What is the role of men and women?
3. What is the first stage?
4. What is the second stage?
5. What does he feel about going to school?
6. What is the third stage?
7. During the third stage, what kind of feeling does he
have?
8. Write the line/s which have figures of speech and
identify what figures of speech it is.

GROUP 2

Then a 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. And then 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;
And so he plays his part.

1. What is the fourth stage?

2. What are his goals during the fourth stage?
3. What is the fifth stage?
4. How does he live his life during the fifth stage?
5. Write the line/s which have figures of speech and identify
what figures of speech it is.
6.
 GROUP 3

The sixth age shifts

Into 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. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

1. What is the sixth stage?

2. How does he look and behave during the sixth stage?
3. What is the last stage?
4. Describe the last stage of the man.
5. Write the line/s which have figures of speech and
identify what figures of speech it is.

IV – Evaluation

“Tableau Vivant”

1. Divide the class into seven groups.

1.1. Each group will have to create a tableau vivant with the certain stage they have picked.
They have to freeze within 10 seconds.
1.2. A representative will have to discuss the importance of their tableau vivant.

V - Assignment

1. Make a descriptive paragraph about their vision when they reach the stage fourth and fifth
stage in life.
2. Give the importance of their vision.
There are many poetic devices in this poem by Shakespeare.
All the world's a stage,
A metaphor comparing the world to a stage. This is the central metaphor of the entire poem, as Shakespeare explains the
different parts man must play "on the stage of life."
There is a simile:
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
"like a snail" - comparing the schoolboy to a snail, creeping slowly to school because he does not want to go to school.
There is an example of personification:
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth
The cannon is an object, so obviously cannot have a mouth.
The ending of the poem completes the metaphor that life is like a stage, and man plays seven different roles on this stage,
coinciding with phases of his life:
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 last "scene" or "stage" of a man is old age, where he has no teeth, no eyes, no taste, no nothing (excuse the double
negative). This is an example of imagery.
Metaphor: "All the world's a stage"
Simile: "And then the lover, Sighing like furnace"
Alliteration: "plays many parts,"; "quick in quarrel,"
Consonance: "shrunk shank"
Sibilance (-s sounds): "shoolboy with his satchel"
Assonance: "sixth age shifts"
End rhyme: "side" / "wide"
Costume/clothing imagery: "spectacles"; "pantaloon"
Body imagery: "mouth"; "belly"; "nose"
Theatre imagery: "stage"; "players"; "entrances"; "exits"
Anaphora: "Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

merely = just, only

time = here, a life or lifetime
part = here, a character in a play or drama
ages = here, periods of time
infant = a young child
mewling = a small weak noise that a cat makes (in modern English, 'to mew')
puking = being sick, vomiting
satchel = a shoulder bag that children sometimes use to carry books to school
sighing = here, sighing with sexual pleasure
furnace = an object which contains a fire, used for heating
woeful = unhappy (old-fashioned English)
ballad = a slow love song
mistress = 'mistress' means female lover but it can also mean a woman in charge
eyebrow = the row of small hairs above someone's eye
oaths = promises
pard = a large cat, such as a leopard (old-fashioned English)

jealous in honour = here, jealous means that someone takes care of something very carefully - so the young man takes great
care of his honour, his reputation as a good man

sudden and quick in quarrel = 'quarrel' is a slightly old-fashioned word for an argument; 'sudden' here means unpredictable - so
in an argument this young man might suddenly and become violen
Seeking the bubble reputation = a bubble is empty, so by 'seeking the bubble reputation', Shakespeare means that the man
does things that make him look good even if they are pointless

Even in the cannon's mouth = a 'cannon' was a large gun, and it's 'mouth' was at the front - so the man seeks his reputation
even if it means standing in front of guns, i.e. going to war or getting in fights

justice = here, a judge or magistrate - so someone very respected

round belly = belly means 'stomach' - so a 'round belly' is a large or fat man's stomach!
good capon lin'd = 'to line' means to fill something at the edges (e.g. 'line a tin for baking a cake') and 'capon' was chicken to eat
- so the man was fat from eating good chicken
wise saws = wise sayings or phrases (old-fashioned English)
instances = examples (as in 'for instance')
lean and slipper'd pantaloon = here 'lean' means 'thin'; a slipper is what people wear indoors; a 'pantaloon' meant an old man -
so this describes a thin old man who stays inside
pouch = a small bag for carrying money
hose = tights, thin trousers that men wore in Shakespeare's time
well sav'd = kept carefully
a world too wide = much too big
shrunk shank = 'to shrink' means to grow smaller, and a 'shank' is a piece of meat cut from a leg of an animal - so the man's legs
have grown narrower with age
manly = if someone is 'manly' they have characteristics people traditionally admire in men, e.g. being strong and brave
Turning again toward = becoming again
treble = a treble is the higher part of a piece of music - so Shakespeare is referring to a boy's high voice
pipes = a musical instrument that makes a high sound
eventful = full of activity, containing lots of events
history = here, a kind of play that talks about events in the past
second childishness = being like a child again (in modern English, we sometimes talk about a 'second childhood')
mere = here, absolute or complete (old-fashioned use)
oblivion = if someone is 'oblivious' they don't know what is happening around them, and if they live in 'oblivion' they are
completely forgotten by other people
Sans = without (this is French for 'without')

• He is often called as the National Poet and considered the Greatest Dramatist of all Time.
• He was born on or near April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
• He attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon from the age of 7 in 1571 and left
school and formal education when he was fourteen in 1578.