in As You Like It by the Shmoop editorial team, says that Shakespeare "breaks down a human life into seven stages: a vomiting child, a whining schoolboy, a young lover who sighs, a soldier, the "justice" or honest leader, stupid old man who thinks he is still young ("pants"), stupid old man, toothless, blind and as helpless as a baby. This is important because it proves that the poem divided life into different parts. This proves that Shakespeare's intention was to show that life is a drama. The article also says that the idea of ​​the "overarching concept of 'ages of man' is quite old." This is important because it shows that the theme of life as drama existed before Shakespeare even wrote his poem. This shows that other people also believed that life was a drama, as Shakespeare did. The article also says that the poem uses alliteration and that an "example of alliteration in the poem is 'the shrunken stem' and 'plays its part.' By using alliteration, Shakespeare emphasizes that life is a drama and that everyone has a role to play in the drama. This is important because it proves that the theme of the poem is that life is a drama and everyone has a role to play. This shows that the universal theme of the poem is that everyone's life is a drama and that everyone has a role to play which will one day eventually come to an end.