Warning — "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple"

Still in copyright — Joseph died in 2018; she wrote it in 1961 and it was first published in The Listener in 1962. Print it from a licensed collection. Read it to the family first: it is a young woman imagining the freedoms of old age, not a poem about death or about the person who has died, and families who only know the first line are sometimes surprised by the rest.

Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.

Jenny Joseph wrote Warning in 1961, when she was 28, and it was first published in The Listener in 1962 before appearing in her collection Rose in the Afternoon (1974).

A young woman imagines the freedoms of old age. When she is old, she says, she will dress loudly and badly, spend her money on treats instead of necessities, sit down on the pavement when she is tired and do the small rude things she has always held back from. For now she has to be respectable, pay the rent and set a good example. The poem ends with her wondering whether she should start practicing a little now. It is about living freely, not about dying.

Beloved and frequently misremembered — it is about old age, not dying. Read the family the whole thing first. Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: when I am an old woman I shall wear purple · a woman who did as she pleased · not actually about death · often requested from the first line alone · irreverent · famous.

A spirited, independent woman who did as she pleased, someone who loved bright clothes, and families who want a smile. Many groups and families already associate it with an older woman who lived boldly. It is not a poem about death or grief, so it needs a short introduction explaining why it was chosen.

Fits well after the eulogy, as a light moment, or near the end before the closing words. A daughter, granddaughter or friend reads it. Some families invite mourners to wear purple, which makes the reading a natural centerpiece.

Allow about a minute and a half at a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, from the reader’s first word to their last.

• Read the whole thing to the family first. Many only know the first line and are surprised by the rest.
• Introduce it in one line saying why it suits her. The room will then hear it as a portrait rather than an odd choice.
• It is a list of small rebellions. Keep the pace brisk and the tone mischievous; the humor is in the details.

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