“Sit down on the pavement when I’m tired.”
She sees this as being a childish act, as she would not consider sitting on the pavement now. She does not think about the restrictions that old age bring.
In “Old man, old man” Fanthorpe presents a picture of her fathers old age. He is unable to do many things he once could do.
“Now his hands shamble among clues”
Fanthorpe’s father could once do these things for himself but now he needs the help off the other people. Fanthorpe raises issues that are negative towards old age, and how old people are like children, the way they become dependant on others.
Most of the behaviour described in both poems is childish. Jenny Joseph seems to see age as a second childhood.
“Pick the flowers in other peoples gardens”
She sees this an act that children can get away with, she also sees this as a step into a new freedom, where as Fanthorpe sees old age as a limitation. Jenny Joseph thinks these are the things children would enjoy to do.
The behaviour she sees as attractive is either behaviour, which adults think and older person may enjoy doing for attention.
“Press alarms”
She describes things she could have possibly seen old people do. She also believes that these actions could have been purposely chosen to do. She try’s to dismiss the negative issues of old age. She seems to feel being a responsible adult is tedious and restricting. Jenny Joseph uses old age as a justification to be eccentric. She wants to change societies expectations of a responsible adult, who is given the image of setting a good example, to someone who is conventional and diverse.
Old Man, Old Man shows examples of a shocking picture of growing elderly. Fanthorpe is recounting her fathers aging. It is said, that as you get older you become less independent, so for him, it is not freedom and liberation it is growing vulnerability. This would probably be the behaviour he would not have chosen for his life, as he has no control over how he lives and what his choices are, and his life is ruled by schedules.
“If you’ve smoked you’re timetabled cigarette?”
And
“Now his hands shamble among clues”
This would probably be the behaviour he would not have chosen for his life, as he has no control over how he lives and what his choices are, his life is ruled by timetables and schedules. Also, he can no longer do things he once used to do, ‘shamble’ suggests that because he is old he is now awkward and clumsy.
There is a mood of humour and sorrow, in the poem. Her father is visualized as being compulsive, and neurotic about his interests and hobbies, which mostly consisted of gardening.
“Lord of the shed”
Fanthorpe is mocking her father, at his expense, someone suggesting another to be the ‘lord’ of something is of high status, and so it is funny as it is only a shed.
There is also a sense of sadness to the poem, as she recounts of her father not being good with her when she was young.
“Not good with daughters”
I believe that the motive for this is because of his interest’s in D.I.Y rather than the more necessary and essential things in life. Fanthorpes father has seemed to lose all-important aspects of his character, even the aspects that were dislikeable about his personality. He has begun to be dependent on other people, and is unaware of what is happening.
I think both poems represent humour and compassion. Jenny Joseph represents the bright and optimistic observation’s of old age, where-as Fanthorpe raises depressing and discouraging vision’s of old age.
