The poem ‘An Old Woman,’ is about a common enough experience, the experience of misjudging someone. A tourist is approached by an old beggar-woman she is reduced to asking for money, she offers to show him one of the tourist sights in Jejuri, ‘the horseshoe shrine’ (stanzas 1-2). He tries to shrug off her attentions. He finds her very annoying (stanzas 3-5). Most of the poem is about the middle class person. The woman pleas with him (stanza 6). The tourist now cannot ignore her. There only one line from the old woman speaking 'What else can an old woman do on hills as wretched as these?'
The cracks around her eyes make him think about the position of the frail old lady who stands alone in the world (stanzas 7-10). We don’t actually get intrinsic thoughts of the old woman. He suddenly sees himself as small in comparison - the size of the small change in her hand (stanza 11).
The way in which poem are similar are that they are both written in present tense, both poem show how different countries economic and social problems of poverty affects peoples life, both poems also show different class people such as higher class white people in ‘Nothing Changed’ and lower class black people. In ‘An Old Woman’ the tourist is shown as a higher class person compared to the beggar who is a lower class person. Both poems express repetition, to convey the perseverance of the beggar and the irritation of the character/poet in ‘An Old Woman’, ‘She wants… she says… she hobbles… she won’t’, ‘you’ve seen… you know… you turn… you want.’ In ‘Nothing Changed’ ‘and my…and the…and the…and the’ is used to reinforce to show what he is going through.
The subject of the theme of ‘Nothing Changed’ is about the radical segregation and wealth of whites and poverty of the blacks. The poem is a powerful protest against poverty injustice and racism. The environment is big part of people’s lives; this is similar to the theme of ‘An Old Woman’ the old woman is a beggar who is also in a poor environment, where she has not much opportunities, because of the poverty around her.
The way in which both poems are similar in ‘Nothing Changed’ and ‘An Old Woman’ both poems what to see a change in the environment and they way people judge each other. In ‘Nothing Changed’ the person felt insecure with the white people taking over by building new cuisine restaurants for white people only ‘new, up-market, haute cuisine,
guard at the gatepost, whites only inn’, also there was no full name given to black people area it was called ‘District Six’ this shows how white people did not care about given the area a suitable name when the person said ‘No sign says it is: but we know where we belong’ this is ironic it as if they are speaking out. Towards the end of the last stanza in, ‘Hands burn for a stone, a bomb, to shiver down the glass.’ Nothing’s changed’ this show the anger was building up inside, in the end there was no hope. In ‘An Old Woman’ the old woman grabs hold of the tourist; the tourist felt that he did not want her around him; he talks about past experience ‘they stick to you like a burr’ this shows the irritation. It take the person time to realise about the beggar, half way through the character really looks at the old woman for the first time. Looks at her eyes, at her suffering, at her as a human being, with all the hopes, dreams, pain, and beauty common to all humanity.
The way in which they both poems are different in style ‘Nothing Changed’ the poem is set out in six stanzas each of eight fairly short lines. This kind of regularity in the lay-out creates a sense of control: the poet is very clear about what he is feeling - no sudden flying into a rage. The tone of ‘Nothing Changed’ would be read angrily, to show the poet's attitude to the fact that nothing has changed. In ‘An Old Woman’ the poem is written in 11 three-line stanzas. Because they are so short, they are very direct and powerful. Also the poem’s language splits into two halves: The bored, ordinary language of the first half and the elaborate metaphorical figurative language of the second, the metaphors ‘bullet holes’ shows that the tourist could see straight through the old woman eyes. The poet also used ‘shatter-proof crone’ this is a powerful metaphor makes the woman seem powerful and strong, despite her beggary. The poem finishes with a metaphor what has happened to make the tourist feel like ‘small change’ in the hand of the beggar. The tourist feels his guard has dropped, he feels as pathetic and worthless as the small change. The tone of the poem sympathetically the tourist becomes concerned for the woman and makes the reader feel sympathy for the old woman.
The two poems ‘Nothing Changed’ and ‘An Old Woman’ are engaging it makes the reader think about the environment that surround them, its make the reader feel fortunate that they are not in that same situation, where there is a hierarchy social order and rank. The two poems show the anger towards injustice and unfairness in society, and describe deeply the people in harsh environment facing hardship. I feel both poems feel that they reaching out for help.