'On the Life of Man'

Written in rhyming couplets
1. Words fit together/linked - sense of certainty
2. 'Heaven the Judicious sharp spectator is,//That sits and marks still who doth act amiss'
  1. Judicious - showing good sense
  2. Audience of play
  3. God watching and judging everyone (religious attitude of the time)
  4. Amiss - wrong or faulty
'Our mirth the music of division,'
1. Merriment/laughter
2. Children's laughter
'Where we are dressed for this short Comedy,'
1. Life is short/a joke
'Our mother's wombs the tiring houses be,'
1. Unborn child
2. Dressing rooms
'What is our life? A play of passion,//Our mirth the music of division,'
1. Half rhyme/partial rhyme
  1. Gives a sense of uncertainty
'Are drawn like curtains when the play is done,'
1. Death = ending of the play
'Thus march we playing to our latest rest,'
1. Death
'Only we die in earnest, that's no Jest.'
1. Earnest - showing serious feelings or intentions
2. Jest - joke
Structure
1. Short like life
Themes
1. Life is like a play; people are always judging you
  1. 'Heaven the Judicious spectator is'
Messages
1. Life is a joke
  1. 'short Comedy'
  2. Death is taken seriously
    1. 'we die in earnest'
Language
1. Extended metaphor for life
2. Some half rhymes - uncertainty
Voice
1. Poet
2. Everyone

Resource summary

	Created by cameronporter96 over 11 years ago