Each poems title has a meaning to it, ‘warning’ means that people should be warned by how this woman will act in her old age, and the poem ‘mirror’ means that the mirror which the poem is about, is talking about appearance and how the woman referred to in the poem will look in her old age.
In ‘mirror’ the poet states that ‘I am not cruel only truthful” showing her thoughts on how she presents her views on how her life will unfold and that the mirror only tell the truth and never lies. I think that this is a very effective way of explaining her views and how she looks at the mirror as a source of truth.
In ‘warning’ the poet says ‘when I am an old woman I shall wear purple’ this shows the reader that as a poet she feels that in her old age life will be more exciting and pleasurable, the woman refers to her clothes and what she will wear when she is older, this shows the reader that she sees her old age as a time wear she can wear what she wants, in my opinion the poet is using her clothes as a metaphor for her personal feelings, I feel that the woman thinks that when she is old people will not mind her, even if she tends to do as she follows, whereas a younger person has to follow the rules and laws of the society. In my opinion this was an effective way of showing the audience or reader what she feels about how the younger adults have to act, and how they all have responsibility and they also have to set good examples for children, therefore the poet feels that in her old age she will not have to set a good example for children and she wont have to be as responsible as she is now.
The poems also contrast each other in there tones and in the language used, for example ‘mirror’ uses similes like ‘terrible fish’ this gives the reader the idea that old age is not to be looked forward to as, the simile has a good effect as is makes the reader feel disgusted, in my opinion the poet feels very weak and insecure, whereas in ‘warning’ the tone showed in this poem is that the woman is excited about her future and is looking forward to it. Language used such as ‘spit’ and ‘gobble’ are very effective as they make the reader surprised about how the poet feels about how she will be able to act in her old age.
So in my opinion both these poets have both effectively shown how they contrast each other, but they still both show their views and opinions from a woman’s point of view thus making it more effective as both poems are written by woman, and they are both about appearances and how they view there futures.
