"Warning"
"When I am an old woman...
I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me...
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?..."
(Brevity due to copyright restrictions)
In 1960, when Jenny Joseph wrote this poem she was a
graduate of Oxford in England and a newspaper reporter
in South Africa still in her twenties. She had no idea that
her YOUTHFUL musings about aging
would eventually lead to a worldwide women's movement
known as the Red Hat Society.
Ms. Joseph now resides in Minchinhampton, England,
and continues to write, winning awards
for her writings. She has always written both prose
and poetry for adults and children.
Her awards include the Gregory Award, for her first book
Of poems, The UnLooked-for Season in 1960, the Cholomodoly
Award for a second book of poems called Rose in the Afternoon
in 1975; and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Prose and
Poetry for "Persephone" in 1980. The poem above, “Warning,”
was voted "The Nation's Favorite Poem" in 1996 by the BBC;
and again in 2001 by Radio4 listeners.
Warning is even more popular now than when it was first
composed; saying it has reached the "wildly popular stage"
would not be overstating its popularity.
It became known here in the United States in the 1980s
When Elizabeth Lucas first published it on her greeting cards.
She still holds exclusive rights on its complete publication.
The poem is also known as:
When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple;
The Purple Poem; Old Woman; I Shall Wear Purple;
and simply Purple. By all names, it is recognizable
however, because of the universal truth recognized
by the many women who read and love it.
The acclaim started by this poem's publication ultimately
led to the formation of the Red Hat Society. The worldwide
membership is now well over 13,000.
Mature women gather to don a dazzling array of
purple clothing and a blinding red assortment of
bejeweled, feathered, tasseled, laced and
flowered headgear. They then to go out
into the unsuspecting world to just "have fun."
Simply stated, the rules are: there are "no rules."
"The Queen Mother," Sue Ellen Cooper, started RHS
during the 1980s. Stories in publications like Good Housekeeping
Magazine and programs like "The Today Show" have
demonstrated the growth of the burgeoning phenomenon.
The first page of their Website reads: "The Red Hat Society began
as a result of a few women deciding to meet middle age with
verve, humor and elan." Red Hattitudes was founded with the idea
that growing older is more fun when it's have gleeful.
This is how it all began. Sue Ellen Cooper bought
a red fedora in a thrift shop in Tucson.
And a year or so later she read Jenny Joseph's poem.
Inspiration followed, and she had the poem framed
to accompany a red hat as a present for a friend's birthday.
She and that friend were soon giving hats
and poems to other friends - and the rest is "herstory!"
The rights to reproduce and sell copies of the poem
"Warning" belong to Elizabeth Lucas,
who has a website at
www.elizabethlucasdesigns.com.
http://www.benjaminrossen.com/DAISIES/html/daisies_09.htm
Joseph lives in England, is an Oxford graduate and is a writer of poetry
and prose at a different level of sophistication. She may not be pleased
to find this piece attributed to her,
nor the reference to her as "an old lady".
a Reading Must !
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