Throughout ‘Old Man, Old Man’, the man’s age is conveyed through the use of poetic language and the use of certain phrases. The words in italics represent the old man’s voice and show how he ages from someone who has ‘lost his hammer’ to someone who only wanted his daughter as ‘ a cloud.’ The italic phrases represent a meaning behind the old man’s ideas and emotions as they portray a depressing and serious tone.
As the poem develops, words regarding authority are associated mainly with the man and are located in the past; ‘connoisseur of nuts’; whereas words to do with weakness and deprivation are associated with the location of the man in the present, ‘obdurate in your contracted world’. This shows contrast between the past and present and a definite lapse in time.
The long sentences reflect the rambling mind of the old man. He was a ‘life long adjustor’ who ‘rambles’ and ‘frets’. His wanders around aimlessly in his life. The long sentences imply that he was once a ‘lifelong adjustor’, and a frightened figure.
This poem represents a form where the man and narrator without having any connections have challenged each other in moving through life. The old man has jumped from talking about his knowledge of ‘nuts and bolts’ to comments about his daughter thus showing where family connections have been broken, but starts to reform again.
The style of writing includes lack of punctuation in the poem “Warning”, showing excitement and immediate actions – These in turn, speed up the rhythm (there are no commas or full stops). This use of punctuation is relevant to the theme of the poem. The life he travels through approaches different aspects of old age and so the long time is expressed through the long sentences.
Throughout the first stanza, the different customs and phrases of the poem express the various impressions if old age, ‘And gobble up samples in shops or press down bells and ran my stick along the public railings’. The stereotypical theme of old age contrasts the feeling of humour with bitterness and frustration, ‘And make up for the sobriety of my youth’.
The use of verbs highlights the discussion in the poem about the present and the future.
“I shall go out in my slippers in the rain’ and ‘you can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,’ reflect childish non standard use of English.
There is also an effect of a three-way division in the poem. These three words show a feeling of how the speaker feels about the past, present and future actions. In stanza one, the word ‘shall’ is repeated to clearly state how the theme of old age should be like. In stanza two, the word ‘can’ expresses the anti-stereotypical theme of what old people in general aren’t expected to do. The repetition of the word ‘must’ in the third stanza conveys the stereotypical view of old age and how they must act in their future life.
In ‘Old Man, Old Man’, stanza one and two has a sad and dismal tone as the changes in the old man are viewed. ‘He lives in a world of small recalcitrant things in bottles’ and ‘small things distress’. ‘I’ve lost my hammer’. This shows the reader that old age can be a life of sorrow, like ‘Old Man, Old Man’ or frivolities, similar to the tone and descriptions in the poem ‘Warning’.
As we progress from stanza two through to three and four, the reader approaches a more praising tone, which shows the old man’s progressed positive achievements in coping with life-‘connoisseur of nuts’ and ‘world authority on 12 different sorts of glue!’ This gives the impression that old age has changed people as they grow up. They are people of confidence and organisation but then their life is pre-adjusted and they become pitiful and miserable, regretting all the things they didn’t do in their youth.
The tone seemingly appears to move towards being light-hearted; in contrast the reader approaches a more dissatisfied and moving tone in stanzas 5,6,7 and8. The old man re-iterates his ‘lifelong’ age where he expresses his feelings and emotions, as he gets older and older – ‘has no power to arouse!’ and ‘ramble in your talk around London districts, fretting.’ This gives the impression that old age can sometimes be emotionally haunting or like the man in the poem, can imply that you are a demonstrate and anxious figure, ‘your surliness; your wife could replace on the walls. Old age can also become a distraction from your children and as stated in the poem ‘And you wouldn’t really know,’ as you become unaware of things around you.
In stanzas nine and ten, the poem approaches a more subtle and personal tone as the reader soon discovers about the old man’s relationship with his daughter. The poet addresses the direct speech of the old man talking through use of italics. The relationship between the old man and his daughter is drifting further apart, but his dependency on her becomes very clear. She however does not wish to intrude on his life, but is willing to guide him. The underlying sadness in the tone of her pleading sums up the daughters feelings for her father.
There is a definite contrast between the speakers of the two poems. In “warning” stanza one opens with a declaration “ When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple!” The phrase is comically full of shock and surprise for the reader. The sense of slight exaggeration is created to attract the reader’s attention. The humour in the language belies the tone of frustration and exhibits clever use of foil.
In stanza two, the poem adopts a more serious tone whereby the speaker addresses the general public in a more assertive manner. The impression given of society is one, which is very generalised and uncaring, ‘You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat’. This gives the reader the impression that old age can turn people a bit arrogant, regretting the fact that one day, everyone becomes old in life. Some might look old, but want to feel young, similar to the voice of ‘Warning,’ ‘And make up for the sobriety of my youth’.
Stanza three reflects a more calm and mature attitude; more in keeping with the stereotypical expectation of society today. This stanza also offers excitement of future prospects in experiencing freedom from old age and responsibility. This contrasts with what is expected of the old, which is to act and behave in a responsible manner where younger generations can look up to and follow as an example.
The final stanza creates a circular time structure with a reference at the end to the opening line ‘I shall wear purple’ suddenly becomes ‘and start to wear purple.’ This shows that when people grow old, they don’t have to live solemnly in life, but can revive their childhood. There is no start or end, but life can be one big circle; we don’t have to just end in death.
The poem ‘Old Man, Old Man’ expresses what we expect -the real emotional and sad sentiments facing an old person, and reinforce the idea as the poem progresses. ‘Warning’ on the other hand is surprising with being comical in tone though seems serious. It expresses that growing old does not necessarily mean living a boring life like in stanza three. Therefore it is light-hearted about what someone might do when they are old even if it is not what society expects of old people ‘wear purple’.
The serious tone of ‘Old Man, Old Man’ expresses the real sentiments of life, reinforcing ideas as the poem progresses, but the tone in ‘Warning’ is seemingly serious, but what we expect differs from the tone of ‘Old Man, Old Man’.
Throughout the poem ‘Old, Man, Old Man’, the themes of growing old can change the ways in which people think and feel about you. The love expressed for the old man’s daughter is fading away. But she still battle to give him help and wants to be let in and love him. This point is reiterated through the use of the word ‘Let’. The impressions brought about by this use of repetition in the final stanza. This echoes to the reader that love can be an emotion or love can be a dependence, similar to the love expressed by the old man, ‘Let me find your hammer, Let me walk with you to Drurry Lane, but only as a cloud’.
On the other hand, growing old doesn’t result in leading a monotonous and boring life, but an exciting one, similar to the exuberant voice in ‘Warning’. The idea of age is conveyed through Joseph’s use of language, ‘And learn to spit…but now we must have nice clean clothes that keep us dry.’ Basically, this poem is similar to ‘Old Man, Old Man’ in many authentic ways but varies in others. One seems to follow the stereotypical theme of old age, whereas the other, by Jenny Joseph, explores the theme of an anti-stereotypical society of old aged people.
Similarly, both of these poems discuss the ideas about death, old age and life. It can be depressing or sombre. They both expect life to be boring and simple by the time each characters reaches old age, but what is different is the fact that ‘Old Man, Old Man’ explores the theme of old age as a ritual; life starts comical and astonishing, but changes into a life of confusion. On the other hand, ‘Warning’ gives the impression that old age is not a time of great wisdom and knowledge, but a time of joy and happiness, where you can live life like you have never lived it before. The mood of the poem helps to reiterate the tone of exultance and acting cunningly.
The purpose of ‘Warning’ is to let society come to an understanding that old age is not something to be feared about, but something to look forward to; childhood, adulthood and old age are all apart of one subject. They link into each other and are apart of one.
The restrictions that the voice rebels against are sometimes reasonable. When you are old, you can become surprisingly different and ‘wear a red hat that doesn’t match,’ but ‘learning to spit’ is a little extreme. The voice shocks the reader into thinking that old age is a time of sensation, but the thought of acting irresponsibly stimulates aswell as aggravates some people.
In comparison, ‘Old Man, Old Man’ causes the reader to think differently about old age. It is really a time to settle down and ‘not swear’. The narrator sees the old man as a man whose ‘hands shamble amongst clues’ and lives in ‘almost darkness’
Both of these poems describe old age in various ways. Old age can either be a time of monotonous activities or a time where people can be young again and live through their sobriety of their youth.
