By William Shakespeare
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FIRST AGE:
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
SECOND AGE:
And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
THIRD AGE:
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.
FOURTH AGE:
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.
FIFTH AGE:
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.
SIXTH AGE:
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.