This poem is a part of Housman’s most famous volume of work called A Shropshire Lad. In these works Housman wanted the reader to think about life and the meaning of it all. In one of Housman’s most celebrated poems “To an Athlete Dying Young”, Critics dissect the themes of staying on top eternally, dying when one is a champion, and not letting the fame fade. Critic Scott-Kilvert says that Housman “voices the familiar passions of humanity with a death dealing sweetness” (Scott-Kilvert 628)
This poem may be considered an elegy, or a piece of Romance literature. It has seven quatrains of rhymed iambic tetrameter, and each line containing eight syllables. The even numbered syllables are stressed, and the first, second, third, and fourth lines rhyme on the final syllable (Magil 3,889). The setting of the poem is in a town. The setting switches to a cemetery where the athlete is buried. The narrator of this poem is Housman who takes the persona of a resident of the town in which the athlete lived. The main character in this poem is the athlete who is a running champion but died at his peak of athletic ability. The townspeople are neighbors and admirers of the athlete. They represent the athletes’ glory and fame (Cummings, scr. 1).
In order to understand this poem one must look at the themes that are relevant throughout. “To an Athlete Dying Young” exemplifies the theme of glory. For example in this poem the athlete is glorified for the winning of the race. Even when death comes upon the athlete he is still praised by the townspeople. In addition the athlete is also commended by the dead for his wiliness to die a champion (Ruby 233). The townspeople will now remember the athlete forever at his peek of his powers instead of watching t...
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...ek culture. The second meaning of “garland” is a gathering of poetic versus, usually poems that praise life. Bruce believes that there is an irony in these two different meanings. He says “The message is that death is the ultimate victor” (Meyer 237). This seems to be the main theme of the poem but if the garland represents the second meaning then Bruce would say “What death takes away is not simply a hero but the joys and sorrows of life” (Meyer 237). In this second definition the reward of life may be greater than the fame earned.
“To an Athlete Dying Young” shows the reader different concepts on life. Fame will fade as life continues, so in order to preserve fame one must face death. The views on this poem range from right to left but they all come back to the same major idea. That if one wants to be a champion eternally; one must die a champion for eternity.
My initial response to the poem was a deep sense of empathy. This indicated to me the way the man’s body was treated after he had passed. I felt sorry for him as the poet created the strong feeling that he had a lonely life. It told us how his body became a part of the land and how he added something to the land around him after he died.
“Ex-basketball Player” seems to have a more negative tone than “To an Athlete Dying Young.” Though, both a talk about former athlete’s glorious past when the runner in the first dies and the athlete in the second retired. In the poem ‘To an Athlete Dying Young” the runner dies at a young age of natural causes even though his fame does not but while in “Ex-Basketball Player” the fame of Flick washes away in his growing of age. The tone of “To an Athlete Dying Young” overall is much more positive since the poet praises the young athlete as "smart" to leave a world where glory does not remain and can only vanish. It is far better to die young, as Houseman suggests, than to join the many who had enjoyed glory but now have faded. Dying young
First of all, the speaker starts her poem personifying death as a kind gentleman who comes to pick her up for her death journey. It is obvious if the reader looks at “He kindly stopped for me” (2). T...
“...Put your pistol to your head and go to Fiddlers’ Green.” Throughout literary history, epic stories of heroes dying for their gods and their countries have called men to battle and romanticized death, but Langston Hughes approaches the subject in a different way. He addresses death as a concept throughout much of his work. From his allusions to the inevitability of death to his thoughts on the inherent injustice in death, the concept of human mortality is well addressed within his works. In Hughes’ classic work, “Poem to a Dead Soldier,” he describes death in quite unflattering terms as he profusely apologizes to a soldier sent to fight and die for his country.
A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young," also known as Lyric XIX in A
The theme of this poem is death and what factors play into what is lost when a person dies. The setting of the poem is philosophical in thinking about qualities that someone special carries in retrospect to life. I found no similes in the poem. Perfection Wasted is a metaphorical in the idea that is parallel to the idea that life is a stage and we are the players.
Both poems have a propitious view of the theme of death. In “To An Athlete Dying Young” Houseman praises the young athlete for dying relatively young. He says “smart lad…not stay (9-10).” Houseman tells the athlete that he was smart to die at a young age because he can no longer witness his glory fade away as he gets older. His interpretation of death is very ironic. Many people consider it a tragedy when an athlete dies young because the athlete cannot further his career anymore, but Houseman argues that an athlete should not further his career because once he is old, he is a shell of his former self. By taking his life during a young age, the athlete gave himself eternal life in people’s mind. Moreover, in “Crossing The Bar”, Tennyson describes death as something people should not fear. Tennyson k...
The tone of Brendan Galvin’s poem “An Evel Knievel Elegy” is quickly established by the writer’s use of the word elegy. Elegy is defined to be a sad lyrical poem or song that expresses sorrow for someone who is dead. In this poem the writer chooses to reflect on some of the public events in the life of motorcycle stuntman, Evel Knievel. This free verse poem has no stanzas or rhyme scheme and there is no set rhythm. The poet’s use of the word “We” in the first line implies the speaker and the poet are one in the same.
Taffler, a character of Timothy Findley's book, The Wars, is a multi-decorated soldier who many people, such as his fellow soldier and the country he fights for, sees him a hero. On the other hand, the poem A.E Housman created "To an Athlete Dying Young" talks about an athlete who died young and offers a different perspective on dying. According to the speaker of the poem, the athlete is “a smart lad” for dying while being in the spotlight (9). The definition of heroism is when a person shows bravery. However, bravery is not the only characteristics of heroism but also doing acts that are helpful and inspire people. Aspects of heroism found on, "To an Athlete Dying Young" applies Taffler, in various ways, such as the requirement for an individual
truly symbolizes death. The poem is truly about him when he was managing the passing
Throughout his villanelle, “Saturday at the Border,” Hayden Carruth continuously mentions the “death-knell” (Carruth 3) to reveal his aged narrator’s anticipation of his upcoming death. The poem written in conversation with Carruth’s villanelle, “Monday at the River,” assures the narrator that despite his age, he still possesses the expertise to write a well structured poem. Additionally, the poem offers Carruth’s narrator a different attitude with which to approach his writing, as well as his death, to alleviate his feelings of distress and encourage him to write with confidence.
The constant process of life and death, driven by an indestructible progression of time, explains the attitude of carpe diem expressed in three poems focused on human love being a fickle matter. Within the poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, and “Youth’s the Season Made for Joys” by John Gay, the concept of how a shy attitude towards the inevitable end of all life is exposed as an inherently useless view. Nevertheless, though their primary themes and ideas of this constant procession of time are obviously expressed, the manner in which they do this, through figurative language and imagery, is the main point in which each of these three poems can be contrasted and examined
In the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” they are first talking about how the young athlete defeats his opponents and brings the whole town joy as they carry him on their shoulders through the center of the town. Everyone was cheering for him and so proud to be apart of a town with a champion. But the next stanza shows a big change as they are carrying him in his casket through the town and everyone is quiet as they lay him down at his final resting place.The next stanza says that it was a good thing because he never felt that moment where the glory faded and he was just a regular guy. He won’t see the day he isn’t glorius and will never not be the town hero. He wont understand what its like for the old town heroes who lived beyond the glory
One must look at this poem and imagine what is like to live thru this experience of becoming so tired of expecting to die everyday on the battlefield, that one starts to welcome it in order to escape the anticipation. The effects of living day in and day out in such a manner creates a person who either has lost the fear of death or has become so frighten of how they once lived the compensate for it later by living a guarded life. The one who loses the fear for death ends up with this way of living in which they only feel alive when faced with death. The person in this poem is one who has lost their fear of death, and now thrives off coming close to it he expresses it when he states “Here is the adrenaline rush you crave, that inexorable flight, that insane puncture” (LL.6-7). What happens to this persona when he leaves the battlefield? He pushes the limit trying to come close to death to feel alive; until they push
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.