Warning

'Utterly charming and uplifting' The Good Book Guide
Voted Britain's favourite poem, 'Warning', written in 1961, is known and loved the world over for its message of old age as a time for indulgence and fun.
In the poem's respectable middle-aged woman, as she imagines herself in old age as a cheeky rebel with outrageous clothes and dotty behaviour, poet Jenny Joseph has created a character whose thoughts have been quoted at conferences and funerals, used to cheer up sick friends and remembered with pleasure by children and adults alike around the world.
Here, 'Warning' appears as a beautiful updated edition with new illustrations; the perfect gift for a friend or relative who wants to grow older free from expectations, with a joyful and rebellious spirit.

Jenny Joseph was an English author of poetry and prose, first published in the 1950s by John Lehmann. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and her awards included a Gregory Award, a Cholmondeley Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship. 'Warning' was twice voted Britain's favourite modern poem in BBC polls in 1996 and 2006. Jenny Joseph died in 2018, aged 85.
Lydia Coventry is an illustrator, designer and maker who works across various mediums from pen and ink drawings and graphic illustration to jewellery and paper craft. She studied Illustration at the University of Plymouth and lives in London. Follow her on Instagram @lydiacoventry.