Housman's "To An Athlete Dying Young" A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young," also known as Lyric XIX in A Shropshire Lad, holds as its main theme the premature death of a young athlete as told from the point of view of a friend serving as pall bearer. The poem reveals the concept that those dying at the peak of their glory or youth are really quite lucky. The first few readings of "To an Athlete Dying Young" provides the reader with an understanding of Housman's view of death. Additional
An Athlete’s Departure (A Discussion on three Messages from A. E. Housman’s To an Athlete Dying Young) When in high school, the glory days of being the shining star of athletics is such a sweet victory. The crowd chants your name and the state knows the skills you can display. Your body is still growing and gaining muscle; a new exciting discovery to unfold every new season. The feeling of setting records could not be replicated in any other shape or form. No one could take it away from you, other
poem, “To An Athlete Dying young”, written by A.E Housman, a well known athlete dies before it was his time, and his legacy is preserved throughout time. Parrelly, in an alternate poem, “Ex-Basketball Player”, written by John Updike, the town’s basketball star continues with his life and fades into nothingness after his glory days. The legacies of both of these athletes varies drastically, which is shown in both poems through personification and the author's
In A. E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young”, the author explores the idea of dying young, but still being remembered by those who live on by using the honor and pride of young athletes as a familiar setting. Dying with a name worth remembering is seen as favorable to outliving a person’s honor. Glory is hard to obtain, and once it has been obtained, it quickly begins to fade away. The first two stanzas of the poem reminisce about the “glory days” of an athlete’s life, such as being carried
Crystal Gross EN 111- IS3 November 1, 2015 Poetry Essay Summary of “To an Athlete Dying Young” A. E. Housman published the book A Shropshire Lad in 1896 in which “To an Athlete Dying Young” appears. The poem has seven stanzas written as quatrains. Each quatrain has two couplets that rhyme. In “To an Athlete Dying Young” the rhyming scheme is AABB. This unique style of writing was complemented by the AABB format. This format of the poem gave the feeling of going forward and backwards. As a result
“To an Athlete Dying Young”) Athletics, they’re everywhere you look. In schools, on the television, and even in a local park: sports are a part of everyday life. It all started when you were a little kid and played on a local soccer team, or even football in the school yard at recess. The amount of different sports ranges anywhere from: soccer, football, basketball, to even track and cross country. Almost anything can be made into a sport. In A.E. Houston’s poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” the
In his poem “To An Athlete Dying Young,” Housman contrasted the popular view of life. Humans always believe that every person’s life, in spite of struggles, sufferings, pains, and triumphs, must be lived to the fullest until old age and death claims us. However, Housman presented a different lens through the idea that dying young is better because a person will not experience the bitterness of his own downfall when fame and glory no longer smiles on him. The height and bliss of glory and the bitterness
to die at the peak of one 's fame to avoid the chance of losing it? The central theme in Housman’s poem “An Athlete Dying Young” is that it is better to die young and famous than living a long life and losing your fame. The poet uses imagery, personification, and speaker to develop the theme. Housman uses imagery to develop the theme. The story takes place in the streets of the young athlete’s home town. He is dead in his coffin and is being carried by the town’s people on their shoulders
To begin, the poem, “To an Athlete Dying Young” was created by E.A. Housman. E.A Housman was an English scholar and a poet who is best known for his cycle of poems. “To an Athlete Dying Young” is about a great athlete who has just passed away. The townspeople are very sorrow and bring him to his grave. The author is trying to persuade the audience that the athlete dying was not so bad, because he died at his highest achievement. Likewise, this can be proven with figurative language which were added
There are many important factors to a poem that an author must use illustrate and convey the meaning of a verse. A.E Housman uses these types of text to perfection in “To An Athlete Dying Young”. This poem is unique due to the exceptional use of imagery, symbolism, and figurative language. In the poem “To An Athlete Dying Young,” A.E Housman uses repeated imagery of death and victory. Housman states “The time you won your town race, We chaired you through the marketplace, Man and boy stood cheering
Happiness lasts only as long as the person pursuing it, this is evident in “To an Athlete Dying Young”. Written in the 1896 by A. E. Housman, an english poet. This poem is about someone looking back at the life of a young athlete. This athlete won many races and challenges but ended up dying young. This poem has a lot of themes that show what it really is about. One of those is repeated use of home in the first stanzas. The rhyme scheme is also another theme the repeated AA BB in every stanza. Also
Irony in To An Athlete Dying Young When reading literature, the excitement level is enhanced through an author’s use of irony. Through Housman’s poem he uses different literary devices; irony, alliteration, metaphors. Irony (death) is used to be the main theme of this poem. Alliteration appears only in a few lines to demonstrate feelings. Metaphors are used to show the contrast from before to after. In To An Athlete Dying Young, A.E. Housman uses irony to describe a character who overcomes all his
themes like “fleeting youth, grief, and death” (A.E. Housman), which are seen in the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young.” The title, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” is relevant to the poem and the central theme because the entire poem is about a young athlete who has just passed away. The poem provides the reader with a point of view that praises this athlete for dying at a young age. “To an Athlete Dying Young,” is considered to be a lyric poem because of its rhythm and is classified as an elegy, “A somber
speakers in A. E. Housman poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” and Edward Arlington Robinson poem “Richard Cory” serve different purposes but uses irony and rhyme to help convey their message. In “To an Athlete Dying Young” the speaker’s purpose is to show the audience dying young with glory is more memorable than dying old with glory. In “Richard Cory” the speaker’s purpose is to show the audience “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” In the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” the author uses rhyme to show
that. “To an Athlete Dying Young” is about a young athlete that died before his reputation; therefore, when people think of him, they will think of the athlete he was. “Ex-Basketball Player” is about a boy that was phenomenal at basketball, but his career came to an end when he did not go to college and play basketball; his reputation died before he did. These poems have similar subjects but still differ a little bit. In the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”, begins with a young athlete being celebrated
Fabienne Verrando Mr. Peterson College English 101, Period 2 21 October 2016 Compare and Contrast The poems “To an Athlete Dying Young” by Alfred Housman and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas have conflicting opinions on what to do when an individual reaches the point of lying on their deathbed. After reading both poems, one starts to ponder whether they should fight for their life or give in to the Grim Reaper’s kiss, given that death is inevitable. While these poems can be
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
To an Athlete Dying Young is a poem filled with many different elements that A.E Housman was able to spin into a telling of both sorrow and a kind of awkwarning in light of a death of a young star runner. The different literary elements made this poem come alive and made the connections more relevant for modern time. Starting with the persona of the story, this story is told in first person but with second person elements, a rarely used point of view due its difficulty in maintaining for a long period
The poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” by AE Housman explores the ways in which man must obtain their glory and maintain in for as long as they can, and to leave while still in their prime. The poem begins with a tone of veneration toward the main character who is a “smart lad” and an amazing athlete (Housman 9). The poem quickly turns toward a morbid tone which is used to more accurately depict the death of the athlete as a “laurel” that will never grow again (Housman 11). The finale of the poem opens
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