Anthropometry
The Seven Ages of 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.
AS YOU LIKE IT · ACT II SCENE VII · WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Age I
the infant,
Mewling and puking
in the nurse's arms;
Mewling and puking
in the nurse's arms;
William Shakespeare · Stratford-upon-Avon · 1565
Age II
the whining school-boy,
with his satchel and shining morning face,
creeping like snail unwillingly to school.
with his satchel and shining morning face,
creeping like snail unwillingly to school.
William Shakespeare · King's New School, Stratford · c. 1572
Age III
the lover,
Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful ballad
made to his mistress' eyebrow.
Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful ballad
made to his mistress' eyebrow.
William Shakespeare · c. 1582 · The year of his marriage to Anne Hathaway
Age IV
bearded like the pard,
jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
seeking the bubble reputation
even in the cannon's mouth.
jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
seeking the bubble reputation
even in the cannon's mouth.
William Shakespeare · Bankside · c. 1589 · His first years in the London theatre
Age V
with eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
full of wise saws and modern instances;
full of wise saws and modern instances;
William Shakespeare · The Globe Theatre · c. 1599 · The year of Hamlet, Julius Caesar and As You Like It
William Shakespeare · c. 1613 · Forensic reconstruction from the corrected metrics of the Droeshout engraving
"O, could he but have drawn his wit
as well in brass, as he has hit
his face…"
BEN JONSON, 1623
as well in brass, as he has hit
his face…"
BEN JONSON, 1623
Age VII
second childishness
and mere oblivion;
sans teeth, sans eyes,
sans taste, sans everything.
and mere oblivion;
sans teeth, sans eyes,
sans taste, sans everything.
William Shakespeare · Stratford-upon-Avon · 1616 · He died on 23 April, aged 52. Imagined here at Stage 7.
These portraits were created using AI reconstruction techniques applied to the corrected skull metrics of the Droeshout engraving, harmonised with the Stratford monument. The methodology and full metrical analysis are described on the Droeshout analysis page. The verse is from As You Like It, Act II Scene VII, spoken by Jacques.