Alfred Edward Housman's To An Athlete Dying Young

To an Athlete Dying Young

Dying at a young age is not usually what people wish upon. In fact, most people hope to die old and live a long successful live. Death is something you have to accept and let soak in, and eventually get over, but to look at a young death during the peak of his or her performance would be sad for anybody to see. However, In “To an athlete Dying Young.” Alfred Edward Housman defines the theme as, Young death is victory. In other words, dying in one’s prime instead of living through adulthood should be looked at as a positive. Most authors would argue that young death is bad, but Housman sees death from a different prospective in, “To an Athlete dying young”

This poem setting seems to be a crowded funeral ceremony for the young athlete that has just died. In the first Stanza, Alfred Edward Housman gives the young athlete fame for winning a race by saying “Man and boy stood cheering by”. In other words, a lot of people were in attendance to support the athlete and his race. This sets the tone of the first stanza as fame and success by celebrating a good win. However, this tone does not last long because the tone changes

When Housman says, “the fleet foot on the sill of shade” he is referring to how close he is to being dead and becoming, “shade”, which is just actually the outline of something. In the next 2 lines of the stanza Housman is describing how the athlete died but will still be remembered as a champion by putting an emphasis on the, “challenge cup.

The final stanza starts off by saying, “So set, before the echoes fade”, this shows that the athlete has been buried. The rest of the stanza talks about how people will gather around and be able to look at his crown in remembrance of him. It’s also important to mention that since he died at the peak of his athletic career, the “laurel” will go “unwithered” meaning nobody will mess with it in respect of the successful life of the