Tamil Nadu 12th Standard English Book Answers | All the World’s a Stage

12th English : All the World’s a Stage

Unit 3.2 > All the World’s a Stage

Warm Up

Discuss with your partner the different stages in the growth of man from a new born to an adult.

• Just like an actor who takes different stages during his life span a man has different stages. As a child, he depends squarely on parents and siblings. When the child attains the age of 3 – 4, he / she is sent to school.
• As an adult, he/she faces the challenges of the world.
• He joins the college, becomes self – dependent and prepares himself for a bright future.
• He gets married and becomes the bread winner of his family. As a father, he assumes a lot of responsibilities. The last stage is his second childhood.
• Now he is a feeble, old man who depends on others for his daily activities. No doubt he is without eye sight, ears, teeth and everything.

Glossary

• time – lifetime
• parts – here, characters
• ages – here, periods of time
• mewling – a small weak noise that a cat makes
• puking – vomiting
• whining – expressing unhappiness
• creeping – walking slowly
• satchel – a shoulder bag
• furnace – place where fire is made
• woeful – unhappy
• oaths – promises
• pard – a large cat, such as a leopard
• justice – here, a judge, someone very respected
• saws – sayings
• pouch – a small bag for carrying money
• hose – tights, thin trousers that men wore in Shakespeare’s time
• a world too wide – much too big
• pipes – a high sound
• second childishness – being like a child again
• Sans – without

1. Fill in the blanks using the words given in the box to complete the summary of the poem

a. What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?

Dr. Christiaan Bernard thought about the suffering of the people and it troubled him as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon.

b. What were Dr. Barnard’s feelings when he was hospitalized after an accident?

When he was hospitalized after the accident he experienced agony, fear and anger. He questioned himself why that had happened to him.

c. When and where did the accident occur?

The accident had happened a few years ago. When he was crossing a street with his wife, a car knocked him down.

d. How did the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their routine?

Dr. Barnard could not do the scheduled surgery and he and his wife could not look after their young baby.

e. How was Dr. Barnard’s attitude to suffering different from that of his father?

Dr. Barnard was angry at his suffering but his father would take it as God’s test on a person. Such incident would improve a person to become better.

f. How was the unattended trolley put to use?

Two little boys, one blind and another crippled pushed the unattended trolley for fun.

g. What roles did the duo take up?

The two boys took the roles of driver and mechanic. The blind boy was the mechanic and the boy with one arm was the driver.

2. Answer the following questions in three or four sentences.

a. Detail the statistics Dr. Barnard has provided in his speech.

To prove that suffering is prevalent in this world he gives the following statistics. Out of 125 million children born this year, 12 million are unlikely to reach the age of one and another six million will die before the age of five.

b. What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?

While the doctor couple were crossing the street after a lovely meal together, a car hit him and knocked him into his wife. She was thrown into the other lane and struck by a car coming from the opposite direction.

c. What injuries did they sustain in the accident?

He had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. His wife had a badly fractured shoulder.

d. Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. Why?

As a doctor Dr. Barnard saw every day patients’ suffering to move about in sweat-soaked bed. He could not find any nobility in the crying of a lonely child in a ward at night.

e. Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?

Dr. Barnard has always found the suffering of children particularly heartbreaking because of their total trust in doctors and nurses. They believe they will be helped by them. If they are not cured, they accept their fate. They do not make any complaint.

f. How did the boy who played the mechanic lose his eyesight?

The mechanic was a seven year old boy. One day his mother flung a lantern at his father in anger. Unfortunately the lantern missed its mark and broke on the boy’s head, resulting in the third degree burns, and loss of eyesight.

g. Why does Dr. Barnard describe the blind boy as a ‘walking horror’?

Because of the boy’s mother’s mistake the boy became blind. He was a walking horror because he was walking with a disfigured face and long flap of skin hanging from the side of his neck to his body.

h. What were the problems the trolley driver suffered from?

The trolley driver had a hole in his heart and it was closed by Dr. Barnard. The boy came back to the hospital with a malignant tumour of the bone. A few days before the trolley incident, his shoulder and arm were amputated.

3. Answer the following in a paragraph of 100- 150 words each.

a. Give an account of the medical problems for which the two boys were hospitalized.

He suffered severe third-degree burns on the upper part of his body, and lost both his eyes.
A few days before the race, the other boy’s shoulder and arm were amputated.

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon, designed artificial heart valves, and wrote extensively on the subject. In this essay Dr. Barnard has ruminated on why people suffer. One day Dr. Barnard had witnessed what he called a “Grand Prix”. Two boys, a driver, and a mechanic drove the hospital’s breakfast trolley. The blind mechanic provided the motor power, and the driver steered with one arm. The other patients joined in the fun and frolic till the plates were scattered. The mechanic was a seven year old boy. His mother flung a lantern at his father. The lantern missed its mark and broke on the boy’s head, resulting in the third degree burns, and loss of eyesight. At that time of Grand Prix, he was a sight to look at. The driver had only one arm. He had been earlier operated upon by Dr. Barnard for a hole in his heart. He was in the hospital now, for a malignant tumour of the bone. His shoulder and arm had been amputated. There was little hope of his recovery.

Inscrutable are the ways of God.
As a butterfly is to the wanton boy, so are we to God.

b. “These two children had given me a profound lesson …” Elucidate.

The business of living is joy in the real sense of the word,
not just something for pleasure, amusement, recreation.

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon, designed artificial heart valves, and wrote extensively on the subject. In this essay Dr. Barnard has ruminated on why people suffer. Dr. Barnard had a distorted view of suffering. But the two children taught a profound lesson to Dr. Barnard. In spite of being disabled, they provided a lot of entertainment to the patients of the hospital. He learnt that suffering is necessary, and being alive is important. He also learnt that the business of living is the celebration of being alive. Dr. Barnard has come to understand that the experience of suffering makes a person a better one. One can’t appreciate light if one has not known darkness. Similarly warmth can be appreciated if one has experienced biting cold. The two children have shown Dr. Barnard that what you have been left with is more important than what you have lost.

These children showed me that it’s not what you’ve lost that’s important.
What is important is what you have left.

c. Describe the ‘Grand Prix’ at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital.

The choice of roles was easy because the mechanic was totally blind
and the driver had only one arm.

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon, designed artificial heart valves, and wrote extensively on the subject. In this essay Dr. Barnard has ruminated on why people suffer. One morning a nurse had left a breakfast trolley unattended. And very soon this trolley was seized by two fearless boys – a driver and a mechanic. The mechanic provided motor power by galloping along behind the trolley with his head down, while the driver, seated on the mower deck, held on with one hand and steered by rubbing his foot on the floor. The choice of roles was easy because the mechanic was totally blind and the driver had only one arm. They put on quite a show that day. Judging by the laughter and shouts of encouragement from the rest of the patients, it was a much better entertainment than anything anyone puts on at the Indianapolis 500 car race. There was a grand finale of scattered plates and silverware before the nurse and ward sister caught up with them, scolded them and put them back to bed.

It opened my eyes to the fact that I was missing something in all my thinking about
suffering – something basic that was full of solace for me.

d. How did a casual incident in a hospital help Dr. Barnard perceive a new dimension of life?

You don’t become a better person because you are suffering;
but you become a better person because you have experienced suffering.

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon, designed artificial heart valves, and wrote extensively on the subject. In this essay Dr. Barnard has ruminated on why people suffer. The two boys – one blind and another one with one arm – played with an unattended trolley. It was a casual incident in any hospital. But it changed Dr. Barnard’s view on life. It taught him a new dimension of life. Dr. Barnard had a distorted view of suffering. In spite of being disabled, the boys provided a lot of entertainment to the patients of the hospital. He learnt that suffering is necessary, and being alive is important. He also learnt that the business of living is the celebration of being alive. Dr. Barnard has come to understand that the experience of suffering makes a person a better one. One can’t appreciate light if one has not known darkness. Similarly warmth can be appreciated if one has experienced biting cold. The two children have shown Dr. Barnard that what you have been left with is more important than what you have lost.

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched.
They must be felt with the heart.

e. Life is unjust and cruel to certain people. Do they all resign themselves to their fate? Can you think of some who have fought their disabilities heroically and remained a stellar example for others? (for e.g. the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, a paraplegic). Give an account of one such person and his/her struggle to live a fruitful life.

Stephen William Hawkings was born on 8th January 1942 (exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents’ house was in North London but during the Second World War Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight his family moved to St. Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At the age of eleven, Stephen went to St. Albans School and then on to University College, Oxford (1952) Stephen William Hawking (1942 – 2018) was the former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and author of ‘A Brief History of Time’ which is an international bestseller. He was the Dennis Stanton Avery and Sally Tsui Wong-Avery Director of Research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Founder of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge. His other books for the general reader include A Brief History of Time, the essay collection Black Holes and Baby Universe and The Universe in a Nutshell.

In 1963, Hawkings contracted motor neurone and was given two years to live. Yet he went on to Cambridge to become a brilliant researcher and Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. From 1979 to 2009 he held the post of Lucasian Professor at Cambridge, the chair held by Isaac Newton in 1663. Professor Hawking received over a dozen honorary degrees and was awarded the CBE in 1982. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the US National Academy of Science. Stephen Hawking is regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein.

Vocabulary

a) Go through the lesson and spot the words which mean the same as the following.

1. profession (para 1) – career
2. sorrowful (para 2) – gloomy
3. decency (para 5) – nobility
4. destiny (para 6) – fate
5. hijacked (para 8) – commandeered
6. motivation (para 9) – encouragement
7. serious (para 10) – severe
8. significant (para 13) – important

b) Go through the lesson and spot the words opposite to the meaning of the following.

1. rare (para 1) – prevalent
2. primitive (para 6) – sophisticated
3. fiction (para 7) – fact
4. fearful (para 8) – intrepid
5. benign (para 11) – malignant
6. diffidence (para 11) – hope
7. boredom (para 12) – pleasure
8. criticize (para 13) – appreciate

c) Frame illustrative sentences to distinguish the meaning of the words in the following clusters.

1. career – carrier – courier

1. We should be careful in choosing our career.
2. My cycle has a carrier behind the seat.
3. I sent the parcel through courier.

2. patients – patience – patents

1. Nurses look after the patients.
2. Gita is known for her patience.
3. Scientists get patents before they create something new.

3. accident – incident – incidence

1. My friend met with an accident.
2. The roads were sealed off because of some major incident.
3. There’s still a high incidence of Malaria in the area.

4. scraping – scrapping – scrubbing

1. The scrapings of the apples cut are found on the table.
2. There is talk of scrapping the age limit altogether.
3. The floor needs scrubbing

5. accept – except – expect

1. She accepts the new post.
2. Everybody attended the class except Sundar.
3. We expect to get the results on Monday.

6. lesson – lessen – liaison

1. We should be thorough with the lesson before the exam.
2. This medicine will lessen the pain.
3. There is a close liaison between the army and the police.

7. severe – sever – sewer

1. Radha suffers from severe stomach ache.
2. The trunk of the tree was severed by the woodcutter.
3. The sewer is under repair.

8. raise – rise – rice

1. David raised his hands to join the competition.
2. The sun rises in the east.
3. Rice is the staple food of South Indians.

9. quiet – quite – quit

1. The teacher asked the students to keep quiet.
2. I saw quite a big snake.
3. He decided to quit the job.

10. final – finale – feline

1. The painter was giving the final touch.
2. The competitors were getting ready for the finale.
3. She moves with a feline grace.

d) Fill in the blanks with the words given in brackets.

1. Theatrical plays were a main source of __________ before the advent of television.

Ans ; amusement

2. The _________ warriors of the Spartan Army marched into battle against a powerful enemy.

Ans ; intrepid

3. The _________ of parents finally came to an end when their lost child was found with the help of police.

Ans ; agony

4. Social media has brought about a ________ impact on the lives of millennials.

Ans ; profound

5. The tyres of the car got _______ when the vehicle rolled over the rusted nails scattered on the road.

Ans ; perforated

6. Thomas Alva Edison did not lose his __________, even after facing a series of experimental failures in his quest to discover tungsten.

Ans ; confidence

7. Many victims of the pipeline explosion in an oil refinery were left permanently ___________ .

Ans ; disfigured

8. The old lady found ________ in the company of the children in the neighbourhood.

Ans ; solace

e) Form a phrase with each of the following pairs of nouns given below.

1. fibre + tissue – fibrous tissue
2. muscle + pain – muscular pain
3. skeleton + system – skeletal system
4. nerve + disorder – nervous disorder
5. digestion + enzymes – digestive enzymes
6. surgery + instruments – surgical instruments
7. agony + experience – agonizing experience
8. glory + victory – glorious victory
9. fancy + idea – fanciful idea
10. emotion + song – emotional song
11. sense + issue – sensitive issue

f) Fill the empty boxes with suitable words under each word class.

g) Spot the errors in the following sentences and rewrite them correctly.

1. My grandfather is well-known in the village for his nobel deeds.

My grandfather is well known in the village for his noble deeds.

2. I had my evening meals in a restaurant near my office.

I had my evening meal in a restaurant near my office.

3. The Boss had full confidence on his Manager for successful completion of the project.

The Boss had full confidence in his Manager for the successful completion of the project.

4. After the complicated surgery, the patient hoped of complete recovery.

After the complicated surgery the patient hoped for complete recovery.

5. The new health care scheme announced by the Government will bring relief to the children suffering with acute tuberculosis.

The new health care scheme announced by the Government will bring relief to the children suffering from acute tuberculosis.

6. In spite of his poverty and setbacks, he was able to launch his dream carrier.

In spite of his poverty and setbacks, he was able to launch his dream career.

Listening

Listen to the passage being read out. Based on your understanding, complete the statements given below with appropriate answers.

1. Boredom occurs when a person is unable to ———————–

Ans ; stay attentive.

2. ————and ———- are emotional consequences of boredom.

Ans ; Mental fatigue and slowing down of thought process

3. Two physical signs of acute boredom are

1. drooping of eyelids
2. face assuming a frown

4. How does boredom affect the quality of work a person does?

A bored person at work is likely to make many more errors than one who is not bored.

5. Mention two ways by which one can overcome boredom.

1. Set goals for yourself and work towards them.
2. Develop an interest in hobbies and crafts.

Speaking

1. You are rushing to attend to an important work and you witness an accident on your way. Will you go to the rescue of the injured person? Share your views with the class.

Sure, I will go to rescue the injured person. My work may be important for me but the life of a person is more important than any work. When someone meets with an accident he stands helpless by himself. This is the time he needs others’ help. Even to transport him to close by hospital he needs some other’s help. When we see some situation like this, being a human being we should go to help such people. In an accident, time is very important to save the affected people. So I will surely go to rescue the injured person.

2. Every person should take up the responsibility to serve the society in his or her own way. Discuss the various ways in which you can serve the society.

10 Ideas for helping your society

Volunteer your time and effort with one or more of these community service ideas.

1. Reach out to a neighbour in need.

Every neighborhood has people or families in need, from elderly or shut-ins to struggling singleparent households.

2. Perform an act of random kindness.

Buy healthy snacks for your office or the teachers at your child’s school. Pay the tolls for several people behind you. Give an umbrella to someone stuck in the pouring rain. Learn more ideas here: Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

3. Mentor children at your local school library, or neighbourhood center.

All organizations that deal with children need adults of any age to work with the children in a variety of ways, from after-school tutoring to recreational and sports activities.

4. Serve at a local soup kitchen or food bank.

There is no greater gift than helping feed those in your community who are down on their luck and would go hungry if not for the service provided to them.

5. Donate blood.

You can help save the life of one or more people simply by giving a pint of your blood at your local blood bank or during bloodmobile visits to your community, school, or office. (And if you can’t give blood, help organize a blood drive for those you can donate!)

6. Volunteer at the local animal shelter, rescue group, or humane society.

The animals are part of our communities too, and many of these shelters and rescue organizations need much help to achieve their mission.

7. Visit a volunteering-related Website to find multiple opportunities to serve.

One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is the amount of Websites that can help connect people with local organizations that desperately need help.

8. Pick up trash along the road, at a local park, or along the banks of a river, stream, or lake.

Many times there are organized efforts to clean some of these locations, but there is nothing stopping any of us from picking up litter when we see it. And smokers? Put the butt in the trash, not on the ground.

9. Help build a home with Habitat for Humanity.

Working with Habitat not only literally builds the community, but also helps welcome a needy family who would not have a home without the help from people in the community. No building skills are necessary to volunteer.

10. Contact your local United Way, Red Cross, or Salvation Army for discovering new service opportunities.

These and other local aid organizations are clearing houses for many opportunities to serve in your local community, making a difference in the lives of your neighbors.

Helping people in your community makes that community stronger and healthier — and makes you stronger and healthier in the process. Performing community service is a very worthy endeavor that helps bring neighbors and others together, helping us all see the bigger picture of life we often miss in living our daily lives. Finally, an added benefit of volunteering is the new people you’ll meet, the new connections you’ll make. By helping better others, you may end up bettering yourself in ways you never imagined. You may also learn new skills and obtain additional training — all of which could help you discover a new career or find a better job. Dialogue

a) Pair work: Practise the dialogue with another student. Then write a similar dialogue between a student and the class teacher regarding an educational trip.

Shakespeare considers the whole world a stage where men and women are only (1) actors. They (2) enter the stage when they are born and exit when they die. Every man, during his life time, plays seven roles based on age. In the first act, as an infant, he is wholly (3) dependent on the mother or a nurse. Later, emerging as a school child, he slings his bag over his shoulder and creeps most (4) reluctantly to school. His next act is that of a lover, busy (5) composing ballads for his beloved and yearns for her (6) attention. In the fourth stage, he is aggressive and ambitious and seeks (7) reputation in all that he does. He (8) promises solemnly to guard his country and becomes a soldier. As he grows older, with (9) maturity and wisdom, he becomes a fair judge. During this stage, he is firm and (10) serious. In the sixth act, he is seen with loose pantaloons and spectacles. His manly voice changes into a childish (11) treble. The last scene of all is his second childhood. Slowly, he loses his (12) faculties of sight, hearing, smell and taste and exits from the roles of his life.

2. From the understanding of the poem, answer the following questions briefly in a sentence or two

a) ”They have their exists and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts” .

Reference:-

These lines are taken from ‘All the World’s a Stage’ which is an extract from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’.

Context:-

The poet utters these words when he wants to express how man enters the world.

Explanation:-

In this part Shakespeare says that the world is a stage. Man enters this stage through his birth and he leaves the stage through death. In between birth and death he plays many roles – seven roles.

b) ”Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation” .

Reference:-

These lines are taken from ‘All the World’s a Stage’ which is an extract from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’.

Context:-

The poet explains how a soldier would be.

Explanation:-

In this part Shakespeare says that the world is a stage. Man plays many roles on the stage. These lines explain the fourth stage ie. of soldier. In this stage he takes great care of honour and reputation. He is quick to get into any argument. He tries to get reputation which is as short-lived as a bubble.

c) “Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything”.

Reference:-

These lines are taken from ‘All the World’s a Stage’ which is an extract from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’.

Context:-

The poet describes the last role of a man in his eventful life.

Explanation:-

In this part Shakespeare says that the world is a stage. He plays many roles on the stage. These lines explain the last stage of man. In this stage he becomes like a child and it is his second childishness. It is the stage of oblivion. He is forgotten by his people. He is without teeth, sight, taste and everything.

4. Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following lines from the poem.

a) “All the world’s is a stage”.

Metaphor.

b) “And all the men and women merely players”.

Metaphor.

c) “And shining morning face, creeping like snail”.

Simile.

d) “Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard”.

Simile.

e) “Seeking the bubble reputation”

Metaphor.

f) “His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide”

Alliteration.

g) “and his big manly voice, turning again towards childish treble”

Personification.

5. Pick out the words in ‘alliteration’ in the following lines.

a) “and all the men and women merely players”

and – all ; men – merely.

b) “And one man in his time plays many parts”

man – many.

c) “Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel”.

quick – quarrel

6. Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow.

a) Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwilling to go to school.

i. Which stage of life is being referred to here by the poet? Page 93

The second stage, the school boy is being referred to here by the poet.

ii. What are the characteristics of the stage?

In this stage the boy goes to school with his bag. His face is shining.

iii. How does the boy go to school?

The boy goes to school with his bag unwillingly. He moves towards the school as slowly as a snail.

iv. Which figure of speech has been employed in the second line?

Simile is employed in the second line.

b) Then a soldier,
full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.

i. What is the soldier ready to do?

The soldier is ready to quarrel. ‘Quarrel’ here means argument.

ii. Explain ‘bubble reputation’.

A bubble means empty and it stays only for a short time. Reputation also is as short-lived as a bubble

iii. What are the distinguishing features of this stage?

In this stage the soldier is full of promises. He has a beard like a leopard. He tries to gain honour and he is quick to take up any argument. Even at the risk of his life he tries to achieve reputation which is as short lived as bubble.

c) And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes sever and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;

i. Whom does justice refer to?

Justice refers to man in his fifth stage.

ii. Describe his appearance.

He has a fair belly; he has become fat from eating chicken. He has a serious look and a formal beard.

iii. How does he behave with the people around him?

He behaves with the people around him as a learned man.

iv. What does he do to show his wisdom?

To show his wisdom he quotes many proverbs and modern instances.

7. Complete the table based on your understanding of the poem.

8. Based on the understanding of the poem, answer the following questions in about 100 – 150 words each. You may add your own ideas if required, to present and justify your point of view.

a) Describe the various stages of a man’s life picturised in the poem ‘All the World’s a Stage”.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;

Shakespeare considers the whole world a stage where men and women are only actors. They enter the stage when they are born and exit when they die. Every man, during his life time, plays seven roles based on age. In the first act, as an infant, he is wholly dependent on the mother or a nurse. Later, emerging as a school child, he slings his bag over his shoulder and creeps most reluctantly to school. His next act is that of a lover, busy composing ballads for his beloved and yearns for her attention. In the fourth stage, he is aggressive and ambitious and seeks reputation in all that he does. He promises solemnly to guard his country and becomes a soldier. As he grows older, with maturity and wisdom, he becomes a fair judge. During this stage, he is firm and serious. In the sixth act, he is seen with loose pantaloons and spectacles. His manly voice changes into a childish treble. The last scene of all is his second childhood. Slowly, he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell and taste and exits from the stage of the world.

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

b) Shakespeare has skilfully brought out the parallels between the life of man and actors on stage. Elaborate this statement with reference to the poem.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;

In the beginning of the poem Shakespeare brings out the imagery of a drama stage and he compares the world to the stage. As needed for a drama stage he introduces exits and entrances. In a drama an actor has particular time to enter and exit. In the same way man enters this world through his birth and exits from this world through his death. In a drama different actors play different roles on the stage. But in the world single man plays different roles at different time of his life. The poet introduces him as an infant and takes him through different roles leading to the final stage of death. As the actors on the stage have their own script to act, man has separate script to act in his different stages. As an infant he has a particular script and as an old man he has another script. Shakespeare divides the whole life of man in this world into seven stages and he has given seven roles to him to play in the drama of life.

You only live once, but if you do it right,
once is enough – Mae West

Speaking

Task 1

Shakespeare describes the characteristics of the various stages of man. You are in the second stage of life. What do you think of your roles and responsibilities at this stage? Discuss with your partner and share your ideas with the class

Yes I am in the second stage of Shakespeare’s division of man’s life. As it is said in the poem in the beginning of my career as a student I too had the same problem. Now I am out of the trouble. Now I love to come to school. What I learn from here is going to be the basis for my future life. I have to fulfil the responsibilities which this stage has. I have to come to school regularly. I should take my classes very seriously. Apart from the lessons I have to develop many of my skills. I should use this opportunity to have a positive attitude. I should utilise all the opportunities given by the school.

Listening

Listen to the poem and fill in the blanks with appropriate words and phrases. If required listen to the poem again.

The World Is Too Much with Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. –Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

– William Wordsworth

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