Compare the ways ‘Old Man, Old Man’ and ‘Warning’ Deal with the theme of old age.
The U.A. Fanthorpe poem, ‘Old Man, Old Man’ and J Joseph’s ‘Warning’, deal with the theme of old age in very contrasting ways. Both deal with similar issues, yet come out with very different views. The first thing we see in both poems is the immediate tone portrayed. ‘Old Man, Old Man’, starts talking of someone who “lives in a world of small recalcitrant / Things in bottles, with tacky labels”, while ‘Warning’ begins with the colourful image that “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple / With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me”. Purple and red tend to suggest a vivid and lurid tone, and the immediate contrast between the two sets the character in “Old Man, Old Man” as being reclusive and isolated, living in his own confined world, while in “Warning” we see the author looking forward to old age, seeing it a time for enjoyment of life.
“Old Man, Old Man” continues to explain to the reader how old age brings deterioration and isolation to people, talking of how “small things distress” and having his hands “shamble among clues”, implying that old age brings more constraint and misery to a person, while we see that in ‘Warning’ the coming of old age will give the author an excuse to break society’s constraints, such as dressing strangely and wasting money on “brandy and summer gloves…and say we’ve no money for butter”. A strong sense of bitterness and melancholy is created in ‘Old Man, Old Man’ as the author describes a regimented, authoritarian past world, which has gradually worsened into a narrow, emotionless one. The man is seen to be upset by small incidents, have a deteriorating sense of humour and vision, and, despite his age, is still attempting to impose order on his world with his “timetabled cigarette”. The man’s previous interests are belittled by using sarcastic phrases such as “Lord once of shed, garage and garden”, showing us that this man used to only be able to control his environment, and now he has “lost the hammer”, he cannot even do this.
