APAD: Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

Meaning:

   Shakespeare used this expression to describe the condition of the last of the

   seven ages of man. The French word `sans', meaning `without', having one

   syllable allows the speaker to quickly reel off the list of things he is

   without, closing the `All the world's a stage' speech and so emphazing his

   lack of life's functions.

 

Background:

   This is the last line from Jaques famous `all the world's a stage' speech in

   Shakespeare's As You Like It, 1600:

 

     JAQUES:

     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.

     And then the whining school-boy, with 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 honour, 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 slipper'd 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.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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Reading the classics saves time which, like a roll of paper towel, gets

dearer each passing day. Initially, Shakespeare and the Bible might take some

effort but once settled, they feel like a pair of shoes: the more one wears

them, the better they fit.

 

Today's APAD reminds me of poor Shylock the merchant. He might have had a thing

about some rare meat but the Jew, who insisted that he shared every trait of a 

Christian, ended up sans lands, sans goods, sans daughter, and sans Yahweh!