Compare the way old age is treated in the poems "Old man, old man" and "Warning".

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Compare the way old age is treated in the poems “Old man, old man” and “Warning”

        In this essay I will discuss how ‘old man, old man’ and ‘warning’ address the theme of growing old. ‘Old man, old man’ tells the story of an old man’s life through flashbacks. It is about the changing relationship between parent and child. Whereas warning looks at adulthood and old age, it discusses all the things the speaker will do when she is old and all the things she does as an adult that she doesn’t like doing.

         ‘Old man, old man’ is about a man getting older and what old age has done to him. There are two speakers in this poem, the daughter and the father. The poem is written in past and present tense: “ He was always a man who did it himself”, the past tense in the poem tells us of a time when the man was young and how he had no problems doing the tasks he does. The present tense tells us the difficulties he’s having or how he’s older “when he saw better”. The relationship with his daughter has always been strained, a fact both father and daughter regret.

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        The contrast between past and present tells us that old age is treated as a negative part of life. The poem has an irregular line length and enjambment reflects the shambles and disorder of the old mans mind.

        The poem uses colloquial language and does not have imagery, just a series of memories. The italics are the father speaking, it shows how the father is ageing as he now finds things hard to do “I’ve lost the hammer”. Fanthorpes message is that old age is a negative part of, as the poem is very pessimistic. The daughter is sad ...

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