These are the new generation of rebels embarking on adventures, falling in love and breaking records. They sound like a gang of social media influences and young rising Hollywood stars. But nearly all of them are over 70 years old. Chase, born in 1941, is an American poet, living in Manchester, where she set up the Poetry School. The Wedding Spy and Extended Family are published by Carcanet; a new collection is due in autumn 2011. This poem follows an old man who laments that no one will listen to him. No one wants to hear his stories about how it used to be. He realizes, though, this isn’t against him. Rakosi believes that he lives in a time when no one will admit their age. 17. "The Four Ages of Man” by Anne Bradstreet

The idea of growing old gracefully or disgracefully is meaningless. There is no one way to age any more than there is to be young. Each of us will go our own way.Born in 1923 and brought up in Cardiff, Abse has published 14 books of poetry; much of his work draws on his Welsh roots and Jewish inheritance. His most recent collection is New Selected Poems 1949-2009. Grandma considered the quiet week in bed a brief season in hell because she wasn’t able to leave the bedroom and go out, let alone climb a tree.

Grandma was unusual in not only climbing trees but also the way in which she dismissed all criticism. She was not bothered about what other people had to say about her passion. She had the spirit of freedom in her thoughts and actions. Hence the poet terms her a genius. McGough, born in 1937, made his name as one of the "Liverpool poets" in The Mersey Sound (1967). He presents Radio 4's Poetry Please. As we age, societal norms often dictate how we should behave. But for some, age is just a number, and the spirit remains untamed. This poem applauds those who live life on their own terms, regardless of age. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here.The poem is about renouncing the hold of the world upon us, and attaining something higher than the physical or sensual.

When old age arrives, we are often unprepared. How do we let go of these inferiority complexes that we have about our aging selves? How do we create more positive images of ourselves? How do we look inward and redefine our self-worth? How can we love and accept ourselves more? Confronting this reality is the beginning of a healthy relationship to life, aging and death.

Post Comments

The poem ‘Grandma Climbs a Tree’ portrays Ruskin Bond’s unconditional love for his family. He says that his grandmother was a genius as she could climb trees. Spreading or high, she’d be up their branches in a trice. When last she climbed a tree, she was sixty-two. Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift for being happier in a tree than in a lift. And though, as years went by, she would be told that climbing trees should stop when one grew old, and that growing old should be graceful, she’d laugh and say, ‘Well, I’ll grow old disgracefully, I can do it better.’ And her family members had to agree for in all the garden there wasn’t a tree she hadn’t been up, having learned to climb from a loving brother when she was six. But it was feared by all that one day she’d have a terrible fall. Stevenson, is an American writer and poet, born in 1933. She has lived in Britain for over 40 years and is the author of more than a dozen volumes of poetry, books of essays and literary criticism, a biography of Sylvia Plath and two studies of Elizabeth Bishop. So let’s dive in and discover the poetry of growing old gracefully, and how it can inspire us to live our lives to the fullest at any age. The Wisdom of Age The outcome was different – once while the speaker and his family members were in town, grandma climbed a tree and couldn’t come down. After she was rescued, the doctor strongly recommended a quiet week in bed. Though the speaker and his family sighed with relief, for granny it was like a brief season in hell, being confined to her bedroom. But she held her peace till she felt stronger. Then she sat up and said, ‘Til lie here no longer!’ And she called for the speaker’s father and told him undaunted that a house in a treetop was what she now wanted. The speaker’s dad knew his duties. Grandma’s special ability was her passion for climbing trees. What was surprising was that she could climb any tree however tall or wide.

Given the length of this poem, it may be wiser to choose an excerpt that your loved one would find humorous. You can write this in a card, read it to them, or post it on social media and tag them. 2. "The Old Man’s Complaints and How He Gained Them” by Robert Southey The speaker in the poem does not call his grandmother ‘childish’. What else was she, according to him? Why does he consider her to be so? Pushing seventy, baby-soft skin swathes their features prettily, their faces oddly expressionless aside from two pairs of permanently pursed lips. Their golden hair, coiffed to within an inch of its luscious life, quivers awkwardly as the carriage shudders to a start. It’s perhaps this emphasis on individualism that has made Advanced Style so popular with younger people. As Cohen puts it: “[Iris] comes from a time before ‘fast fashion’, where you wouldn’t come across hundreds of people wearing the same thing. It’s interesting because personal style has really become a commodity. Many of the women I photograph say that everyone is trying to look different these days, yet they all end up looking the same. I agree with Iris’s pro-individual sense of dressing and I believe that any creative act can be a form of personal expression.” Or, as Iris herself has said: “When you don't dress like everybody else you don't have to think like everybody else.”Aging, like anything else, is often the target of wit. Here are some fun poems for you to enjoy. 1. "How to Be Perfect” by Ron Padgett Growing older doesn’t necessarily mean conforming. It can be about seeking thrill, adventure, and living with a fervor that never fades. This poem is an ode to those who age with a relentless zest for life. no sense in wasting your life moaning or complaining about your age. In fact, as you age, you realize the importance of living each day and Time might change many things, but the bond shared between two people who age together remains steadfast. This poem captures the essence of two lives intertwined, journeying through life’s seasons together. When I was younger, I rebelled by being a punk. I dyed my hair, wore outrageous clothes and didn’t care what others thought. Then when I got older with a responsible job and commitments, I felt I had to conform. This lasted for a while before the rebel inside me had had enough. Now I am deciding how I want to look. How I want my hair and the clothes, I want to wear.