How do you feel about the ways in which old age is presented in 'Old man, Old Man' and 'Warning'?

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How do you feel about the ways in which old age is presented in ‘Old man, Old Man’ and ‘Warning’?

‘Warning’ is about a middle-aged woman describing her wishes for the future. You can tell she is talking about the future due to the way the writer uses the words ‘when’ ‘shall’ and ‘you can’, which are all used to describe future objectives. ‘Old Man, Old Man’ is about the past and present life of an old man.  Both poems focus on different aspects of old age.

In ‘Warning’ the impressions of old age that come across are those of hope, rebellion and change. The impression of hope is there because the writer is looking forward to old age and all the things that she will be able to do when she is old. The impression of rebellion comes across because the writer says she wants to ‘learn to spit’, ‘press alarm bells’, ‘And pick the flowers in other peoples gardens’ all of which you wouldn’t expect an elderly person to do. Change comes across because the writer is planning to do things she wouldn’t do at the present time such as ‘wear purple / with a red hat’ or spend money on useless trivialities. In a way the writer views old age as a second childhood.

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In ‘Old Man, Old Man’ old age is seen as the loss of independence and how that has changed how the old man lives compared to how he lived when he was younger and more independent ‘Things in bottles with tacky labels. He was always / a man who did it himself.’ The quote shows that things have to be labelled so he doesn’t get muddled and it is a great loss of independence for him as he had always done things his way. ‘The jokes you no longer tell as you forget.’ The quote suggests that the man use ...

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