Death Is One Of People’S Worst Anxieties That Many Realize
1187 WordsFeb 28, 20175 Pages
Death is one of people’s worst anxieties that many realize that it is inevitable to “cease.” Death deprives one from their future and worldly affairs. The crux of universal fear of death is not the loss of the actual state of livelihood, but the loss of worldly matters such as success, fame, recognition, and gratification. Thanatophobia only exists because death is always perceived as painful and sinister. People truly fear not accomplishing their duties in the human life. The most common ambition that many strive for, but fear to never attain is to make their mark in society before one’s demise. People want to feel like they have completed their life’s journey and lived life to the fullest extent. Every day is significant to address the…show more content… The poem commences with an athlete attaining victory and triumph. His career bloomed and blossomed like a “laurel grows,” but his life “withers [away] quicker than a rose” (Housman, lines 11-12) It transitions to a “dismal” route that “all runner[’]s/ fleet f[ee]t [come to] the sill shade¨ (Housman 5,22). Every living person will eventually encounter the face of death and reach eternal rest. The athlete was “brought shoulder-high/ [and] set at [his] threshold” (Housman 6-7). He was glorified at his deathbed since he died at the peak of his career. The olympian was a “smart lad, to slip betimes away/From fields of glory does not stay” (Housman 9-10). He was fortunate to have passed on early with the finest memory people had of him. Housman claims that death early on in life is a benefit to the deceased because one will not undergo his/her downfall. Their remembrance will purely be of bliss and prestige. Housman illuminates that the athlete was brisk to die young before his glory had been defamed and waned away. Nothing lasts forever in life, eventually, his “record [would have been] cut,” but his “eyes the shady night has shut” (Housman 13-14). The poet contradicts the popular notion of life and death. Housman clarifies that the death of the olympian was an advantage because he would “not swell the rout” (Housman 17). The athlete is “unconscious” of his surroundings, including of the “lads that wore [his] honours out”