Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Paraphrase: The last scene which ends the eventful life-history of man is second childishness and mere forgetfulness. In this stage, man loses teeth, loses taste and loses everything.
(a) What is the last scene of man’s life?
(b) Why is the last stage of man has been called a ‘second childishness’?
(c) How is the last stage of man’s life mere oblivion?
(a) The last scene that ends man’s eventual life is a ‘second-childishness’. In this age he appears and behaves like a child.
(b) The last stage of man’s life has been called a ‘second childishness’ as man’s appearance and activities in this stage are quite similar to those of a child.
(c) The last stage of life is a ‘mere oblivion’ as old age is another stage of forgetfulness.