Comparing attitudes to old age in 'Miracle on St. David's day' and 'Old man, old man'
In both poems old age is shown to cause disconnection from the people with their surroundings. Parts of the poem 'miracle on St David's day' shows the people do have connections with their surroundings. For example 'he rocks gently to the rhythms of the poems' shows that the man can hear the poem and connects with it. When the man in the poem starts to recite the poem 'The Daffodils'; it is clear that he has heard the poem that was recited before and has understood it.
In the poem 'old man, old man' the man in the poem is shown to be very disconnected from his surroundings. 'Fretting at how to find your way from Holborn to Soho' shows that he can no longer relate to his surroundings and so can not find the way.
English: Water in Castle Square Fountain, Swansea ...
St Davids Day celebrations 2007, St Mary Street, C...
David Bowie & Band @ Area2 FestivalWhen it is said 'your wife could replace on the walls those pictures of disinherited children', it is proves the point very clearly. It is saying that if pictures of people he is close to where replaced then he would not notice the difference. This shows a very strong lack of connection with events going around him.
The word 'forget' is repeated many times in the poem 'old man, old man', this shows that old age has caused the man to forget things, some of which used to do regularly. An example is that he used to smoke a cigarette at a precise time; he now can not remember whether he has done the task 'you forget if you've smoked your timetabled cigarette'.
'Old man, old man' shows that the man has been unable to retain a lot of the power that he used to have, such...