All the World's a Stage 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.
Then the whining schoolboy, 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.

Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component words.
“All the world's a stage" A metaphor is used. The author compared the world to the stage.
“And all the men and women merely players;” A metaphor is used. Here, it compares Man and Women to players on the stage.
“Creeping like a snail” A simile is used. In this case, it is used to show that the boy is reluctant to go to school, and thus walked as slow as a snail.
“Bearded like the pard” A simile is used. A pard is a creature and here, the author used the simile to compare the solider’s beard with the pard’s.
“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;”
A metaphor is used. It shows the stage when the man has gained wisdom through experiences in life, as well as social status.
“And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.” A simile is used. The lover cannot sigh like a furnace, but figuratively, it is used to compare the lover’s sighing to that’s of a furnace.
In conclusion, this is an extremely interesting poem. It describes the journey of a man, from being an infant to an old man. The first stage was when he was a baby and the second stage being his childhood. In the poem, it states that he was reluctant to go to school, probably due to his anxiety and leave his house. The third stage shows him being a lover, sad and grieved due to loss of love. The next stage is the man being a solder. He aims to seek a reputation and wants to be recognized. After that, the stage is justice, when he acquired wisdom and have a social status. Then, it is the old man, when he loses his mental and physical charm. All in all, this poem is very meaningful and has taught me a lot of things.