Leaves in Autumn

Poems About Age

by Janice Brent

‘When the leaves in autumn wither

With a tawny tanned face…’

Old age and the process of ageing are things that we all think about at some time, either because we see people close to us growing old or because we ourselves are becoming conscious of the years passing. This collection is a selection of poems on what it’s like to be and to become old, experienced from within or observed from the outside, by poets ranging from Shakespeare to T. S. Elliot to Philip Larkin – and a few you may not have heard of.

Old age is many-faceted. It can show us the indomitable courage of Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Fish’, the gentle, force-of-nature persistence of Wordsworth’s ‘Old Man Travelling’, and the cheeky bloody-mindedness of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Father William’. There are sad poems, funny poems, bleak poems, romantic poems, wistful, heartening and inspiring poems – the whole spectrum of human life, in fact.

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Comments on Leaves in Autumn:

'It's such a fine, complex anthology, and I'm proud to be included in it.' Robert Hamberger, author of BLUE WALLPAPER.

'a lovely collection - and a credit to you. I enjoyed your preface, which provided for me both an insightful introduction and a perceptive framing of the anthology's themes.' Melinda Kallasmae, poet (contributor to Emma Press Anthologies of Motherhood, Dance, and Age.)

'[It] contains so many of the poems I love and a few I didn't know and loved - Andrew Young, Robert Hamberger. I shall be giving it to my friends in lieu of birthday cards.' Salley Vickers, author of GRANDMOTHERS.

'I've just spent [an] hour delighting in your varied and fascinating choice of poems, many, of course, familiar, but gaining newness from their juxtaposition with the unfamiliar (like re-hanging a picture in a different room) and several lovely new discoveries - Bryce, Hamberger, Kallasmae, Pacitti. Thank you so much. A beautiful cover and appearance too.' Etain Kabraji, retired English teacher (St Paul's Girls' School).

'It is a lovely collection ... I like small anthologies because I keep them in various coat pockets and read them usually when I'm on public transport. I enjoyed Life Drawing by Diane Pacitti, I haven't come across it before, and I'm fond of Old Man Travelling. Anyway, they are all lovely and flow nicely.' Michael Butler, yoga teacher.

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About the Author

Janice Brent

Janice Brent worked for many years in the editorial departments of Puffin Books, Penguin Books and Headline Publishing. More recently she has worked as a freelance copy editor and proof reader. She is married, and lives in south-west London.