To An Athlete Dying Young Essay

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

Schools often require reading materials containing unfamiliar subjects to students. Recognizing that there is significance for critical understanding of the text itself as well as the act of reading, this explains why many students today struggle with reading material that is not relevant to their lifestyle. Freire portrays that by the statement, "reading the world precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world" (Freire 286). A person should read their world, and then interpret it. They can then use their existential experience of the world to connect to what they are reading in print, and better understand it.

“Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.” A.E. Housman grew up in a small town in Worcestershire, London. His childhood ended at the age of twelfth because his mother passed away. Then he went to this University where he fell into a dark love and made him depressed. He worked really hard and got a job as a professor at the University College in London. Although he does all of his teaching and helping scholars he is most known for his poetry. His poems display deep feelings and are emotionless. His poems usually affected the reader like a shiver down the spine or a punch in the stomach. I am going to be talking about three messages from the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman.

“To An Athlete Dying Young” and “Ex-Basketball Player” share the lives of two very different athletes. Both experience success in their lives, but one dies with his glory while the other lives past his days of glory and works at a gas pump where he is not recognized. The poems discuss the importance of having glory and keeping that glory as long as possible. Through the poems the readers learn the benefits of dying young as well as the consequences of living after one's glory has faded. Where Houseman glorifies the athlete for his achievements and early death, Updike portrays the disappointment of the athlete living past his days of glory and not reaching high

Being an athlete myself, I understanding this idea of being on top of the world and never wanting to come down. In this A.E. Housman poem this theme is taken to its full extent. Never coming down and losing your fame is death in “To an Athlete Dying Young”. Not ever letting anyone forget who the true champion is and now was. The main theme of this poem is that champions can not be champions forever unless they die a champion.

In his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”, A.E. Housman makes a quite different approach on death. People have different perspectives on death, but more often than not, it is viewed as an undesirable event that people wish to avoid. The speaker in the poem, however, praises a young and famous athlete for dying before he became old and forgotten. This can be interpreted two very different ways. One can assume Housman believes that the only way for athletes to capture the glory is to die when at the peak of their careers. One might criticize him for having such a pessimistic view of life, but we must realize that we are among many people who give those athletes the feeling of disgrace as they are no

A.E. Housman was a poet born in 1859 who became very successful during his lifetime. “To an Athlete Dying Young” represents the theme of glory is fleeting by illustrating the point that if a successful athlete dies young, they will not have to worry about their glory of victory fading. They can rest in peace knowing they will be remembered at their athletic peak when they were successful and victorious. They will not have to go through the pain of watching their fame disappear or whither out with time. In this poetic masterpiece, Housman pulls together figurative language, sound devices, and structure to illustrate that glory is fleeting through a

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.

In "To an Athlete Dying Young", A.E. Housman uses diction, emotional imagery, and symbolism to prove that glory does not last forever and that dying young is the only way to make that everlasting. The speaker is celebrating the life of this young man. He is also giving examples of why him dying so young might not be all that bad. The young man in this poem is a hero in his town, and when he dies, he dies a hero.

While high school student-athletes invest a lot of time and energy into their sport, the collegiate lifestyle brings a new level of difficulty that many incoming freshmen can find intimidating and overwhelming at first. In addition to being under more pressure to perform on a larger, more competitive stage in front of a more expansive audience, they must also deal with the every day challenges that normal college freshmen face: homesickness, transitioning into a more demanding academic workload, and creating a new social network. College athletes have to have their routines extremely time focused, and make time management essential to their daily lives.

“To an Athlete Dying Young” is a a poem about an athlete dying suddenly during the height of his career. It’s about how athletes themselves come for the funeral of the fallen athlete. Honestly this poem doesn’t really do anything to me. I don’t feel sad or anything when I read this poem. Some people can get this crazy reaction, where it makes them think of their deceased grandpa, who died ten years ago. Some may think of their mental illness such as depression or bipolar, which I myself have both of these, but I just don’t see how.

Today in sports athletes endure many mental and physical obstacles from there competitive environment. Many of today's best athletes work with sports psychologists to help them handle the pressures found in this competitive atmosphere. One question that athletes ask is, why cant they play in big games as well as they anticipate themselves doing? Sports psychologists feel that spending all their time on body conditioning and athletic skills will not ensure that athletes reach their peak performance.

“To an Athlete Dying Young” begins with a very familiar image of victory, which is very easy for most readers to visualize because the image of victory has been seen by many people. Nearing the end of the poem, however, the poem’s image becomes less familiar or a bit ambiguous because it is unexpected. Housman believes dying young after achieving greatness or fame is the way to live, and the poem’s speaker attempts to convey the message of dying young to the runner ( ). The poem’s protagonist (the runner) also shares a few similarities and dissimilarities with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. For instance, as we will shortly learn, both the runner and Dr. King did not live their full lives and passed away rather young; both accomplished great feats for their supporters; both will always be remembered positively; and both will never be forgotten. On the other hand, the runner will be remembered for a single great accomplishment, while King will be remembered collectively for his service for underrepresented groups. In addition, Dr. King’s actions have inspired and impacted others to do good and carry out his dream. Also, the runner was celebrated by his entire community, while King was celebrated by, “All right-thinking people” due to his federal holiday in the United States (President 2). The events leading up to the death of both the runner and Dr. King show that both would have continued to do good later in their lives. A.E. Housman’s theory of dying young after achieving

Competition in sports continues to further intensify each year with the rise of superstars in all levels, causing countless young athletes to start training year-round. Not only does everyone seek success, but they also have to deal with the chance of sudden heartbreak from an injury. In particular, it has been reported that 1.35 million children had sports-related injuries that led them to the emergency room last year (5). Luckily, rehabilitation methods range from merely resting to psychotherapy for the mind. One of the most cutting-edge and efficient types of therapy to strengthen, toughen, and support the body is through Russian electrical stimulation. This style of Electrotherapy displays hopeful products in two fields of the sports battle: physical therapy and enhancing sports performance (2). In turn, electrical muscle stimulation is most effective when used in the physical therapy field as a prevention and recovery tool for muscles.

Being in an American school begins a student’s search to find who they are considered in the system. From a nerd to a punk, many academic ties are also involved with this identity. The one group of students who get the most academic ties with his or her extra-curricular activity is the “jock”. As having the title as a jock, a child learns that many people look at someone who plays football or basketball doesn’t have the ability to learn as fast or as well as someone who just studies and doesn’t have extra-curricular activities. Studying this topic is not as stressed as it should be, even when many programs claim to get more physical activity in students. The articles that have been reviewed were testing whether the athlete gets good grades