This poem, taken from the play As You Like It, is an example of an extended metaphor. Shakespeare takes the idea of life being a stage and people being actors on that stage (the metaphor) and extends the comparison throughout the poem. In the “Seven Wheels of Mankind” illustration (below), the artist makes a similar visual metaphor about age and our modes of travel. Make up your own metaphor about the cycle of life. Your metaphor can be a straight-forward paragraph explanation, a poem, or even a drawing. Use your imagination as you create your comparison.