An Athlete Dying Young By Alfred Edward

The poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Housman depicts the funeral of a young champion runner, who has died at the peak of his youth and athletic career. The poem makes note of the sorrow of a young life being cut short, but also glorifies the death of the athlete for capturing the young runner in the prime of his life. Housman’s poem was written in the form of the classical lyric poem, which could be influenced by Housman’s early tutoring in Greek and Latin lyric poetry (Holzberger 4). The poem also makes use of a four-line ballad stanza, which Housman forms into an elegy for the young runner as he reflects on the runner’s death (Holzberger 7). The use of symbols throughout the poem such as the

A. E. Housman was a well known poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Within his two most famous publications, A Shropshire Lad and Last Poems, Housman effectively uses his adept understanding of language, its usage, and style to portray the significant themes behind all of his poems. To an Athlete Dying Young is a perfect example of Housman’s ability to convey his message to the reader through his use of diction, syntax, and tone.

Some people believe we have the ability to determine our own destinies, while others believe that our destiny has already been decided for us. The author’s Jon Krakauer and David Epstein, show both sides of this argument in their writing. Jon Krakauer shows throughout Into the Wild that no matter what a person does there will always be events that occur in life that we have no control over. The Sports Gene, follows the idea that our destiny is either predetermined, but a person can also work hard to determine elements. Jon Krakauer shows both sides of destiny in Into the Wild very clearly and by doing this he proves that we can control elements of our destiny, but there will always be other events that affect our lives.

The strength less dead are the athletes whose “name died before the man”(20). Housman emphasizes through the imagery that it is better to do while one is still remembered since the glory will stay with him and not fade away. “To An Athlete Dying Young” glorifies the athlete through the use of imagery while “Ex-Basketball Player” uses it to emphasize the athlete’s fading glory.

Lastly, why do I agree with Housman that aging brings sadness to an athlete? Looking at Lines 16-20 of, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” we see Housman’s idea of a dying athlete. “Now you will not swell the rout of lads that wore their honors out, runners whom renown outran and the name died before the man.” This quote explains that once the athlete had many fans that adored him, but as time went by lost fans and became a normal person, not someone they looked up to. I agree with Housman on this poem with the fact of sports today. Sports today focus on the young, strong, and non-injured players to bring in wins not losses. As an athlete ages we see that their fan base is changed because those fans like the young athletes more now than they like the older athlete. Even with this happening in sports teams today, we have to see these athletes are still considerably young with ages in the thirties, forties, and fifties. That is young

Success is one of the greatest feelings in life. It is best to enjoy it while you can. “To An Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman praises the life of an accomplished runner at his funeral, and “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch praises the effort of an entire basketball team after executing a perfect play. While both poems praise accomplishments, they also share mistakes as well. Both poems use third-person speakers.

“Chapter Five: Figurative Language 1” Notes Concepts Figurative language is not literal. Two examples of figurative language are simile and metaphor. When a simile is used, “the comparison is expressed by the use of some word or phrase, such as like, as, than, similar to, resembles, or seems; in metaphor, the comparison is not expressed but is created when a figurative term is substituted for or identified with the literal term” (748). Example: In “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, the speaker also asks, “Does it stink like rotten meat?”

Greatness in sports is a status that only very few reach, however to be labeled the greatest athlete of all time is for that one soul individual who excels at all aspects of the game and exceeds every other player in that sport. In my exploratory essay I established what makes an athlete the greatest athlete of all time. In the following paragraph I am going to summarize what makes an athlete the greatest athlete of all time. For the sake of the argument to follow I am going to stick with just the NFL. When I look at the NFL one name comes to mind when thinking about the greatest NFL player of all time. His name is Tom Brady. Tom Brady is the greatest of all time.

Third, there is no greater feeling than the rush you get when there is ten seconds left on the clock and your team has the ball on the 40-yard line in a field goal formation. The kick goes up soars high and far building anticipation. The ball goes in and you win the game jumping up and down and screaming loud. My friends and I are dancing and high-fiving in excitement. I associate myself as a team member that does not get paid. When I speak about my team I use phrases like “us” and “we” as if I’m a player on the team. While watching the games I experience feelings I do not feel on a day to day basis. I feel anticipation, let downs, and great achievement all in four hours.

Although, “To an Athlete Dying Young” and “The Chimney Sweeper” are two completely different pieces of poetry, they have a similar theme and concept to the story being told. Both have two different outlooks on the concept of death, yet their topic is the same, being one of the young dying. “To an Athlete Dying Young” celebrates the life of an athletes past life. It talks about the best of their days being in the

In “To an Athlete Dying Young,” I see two main tones going on within this poem. The first tone I see is the dullness. This is the first tone because the athlete has died young. This dullness reflects sadness and a sombre reflection as the speaker remembers the life of this athlete who was snatched away in his

E. Housman’s To an Athlete Dying Young, one object is used as the prime source for symbolism, which is the laurel described in stanza three, and later referred back to in stanza seven. In context, Housman is referring to a laurel wreath, which is made up of glistening leaves from a laurel tree. In the times of the ancient Greeks, laurel wreaths were awarded to individuals who had accomplished great feats, or who had became victorious in battle or in Olympic competitions, as well as orators and poets who had accomplished a great achievement. When a laurel leaf is picked from its tree, it has very little time to live because it withers quickly, and the life inside of it dies. In relation to humans, once we are picked off of the tree of life by death, all of our happiness and glory within us dies as well. In the third stanza, “Smart lad, to slip betimes away From fields where glory does not stay And early though the laurel grows It withers quicker than the rose” (Lines 9-12)., the laurel is being used as a symbol for the runners glory and victory, which is being compared to the average life span of a rose. The phrase winning one’s laurels means that an athlete, scholar, or a performer has earned distinction and award in his or her field, by dying early, Housman describes that this act of winning ones laurels is preserved. For by dying early, the athlete will not have to go through the suffering of viewing his glory fade, and the decaying of his laurel wreath a

“To An Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Houseman and “Crossing The Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson are poems that very similar to each other yet so different. “To An Athlete Dying Young” is about an athlete who dies young and Houseman congratulates him because people will remember him forever. “Crossing the Bar” is about Tennyson realizing that he is about to die and he accepts his fate. Both poems have a similar theme of death. Both authors make clever uses of symbols such as, in “To An Athlete Dying Young,” Tennyson uses a laurel plant, and a rose plant to symbolize the athlete’s accomplishments. In “Crossing the Bar”, Tennyson uses the sandbar to symbolize the crossing over. However, the rhyme scheme of these poems is different. Houseman

In the poem, “To an Athlete Dying Young”, A.E Housman makes quite a different approach to death. This poem praises a young and famous athlete for dying, before he became old and forgotten. Housman shows that even if one happens to pass away, they will still hold their awards with them for the rest of time. He starts to say that it was a “good” thing that the athlete died young, however; some may disagree with this statement. I can see how a bounteous amount of people would disagree with what Housman had obliged to say about this athlete dying young because he got to keep his glory and fame.

People would not want to hear that their loved ones merely gave up and died passively. This poem in itself is a celebration of life, the poem is not only about death but it is an affirmation of life. To further emphasise the points being made Dylan Thomas utilises a wide range of literary devices. Parallelism is used from lines seven to fifteen to juxtapose the different attitudes of the so called “genres” of men at their death. This is used to outline that if you continuously lead one set type of lifestyle whether it is as a “wild man”, a “grave man” or a “good man” you will not be satisfied when your time comes to die. The only true way to be satisfied is to live a life of balance; only with a good contrast can you be at peace.