To an Athlete Dying Young: A. E. Housman
The title of the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young," represents precisely what the poem is about; an athlete who surprisingly died at a youthful age before all of his life’s expectations had been fulfilled. The speaker seems to consider the athlete’s death as a positive phenomenon for the athlete. The speaker uses several figurative languages to make the poem more personal, so that readers can feel engaged. The poem appears to be about “Pride and the unexpectedness of death” – the speaker believes that it was better for the athlete to die young with pride and honor than to undergo the mortification that awaits him at the end of his career, after working so hard.
Preliminary, the title of the poem seems …show more content…
In stanza two the speaker appears to be speaking to the dead athlete and the grievers in the graveyard. In addition, the speaker had used metaphor to compare the tomb to a house. He told them to “Set the casket down at his threshold” – the entrance of the grave. He referred to the athlete going home to another town; by doing this he was trying to make the athletes death less dramatic and painful; however, he viewed it as a positive phenomenon. The speaker’s presence at both the athletes first big race and a pallbearer at his funeral, suggests that the speaker may be a relative or a very close friend of the …show more content…
He thought it was better than been defeated; “Smart lad, to slip betimes away.” In line ten and eleven, he accentuated that fame and praise are short-lived, “And early though the laurel grows it withers quicker than the rose.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, usually laurel 's branches are woven into a wreath or crown and worn on the head as an emblem of victory or mark of honor in classical times. With this definition we can assume that according to the time the poem was written it was around the era of World War one; therefore, the lives of many ambitious youths may have being lost. He further implied that now that the athlete is dead, he does not have to be concerned about seeing his record broken or missing the cheering of the crowd, because to him the silence of the earth will be of no difference from the cheers of the crowd, for he is gone. The speaker believes that dying young was favorable to the athlete for maintaining his pride, which deems a vital message in the
The title of the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young," represents precisely what the poem is about; an athlete who surprisingly died at a youthful age before all of his life’s expectations had been fulfilled. The speaker seems to consider the athlete’s death as a positive phenomenon for the athlete. The speaker uses several figurative languages to make the poem more personal, so that readers can feel engaged. The poem appears to be about “Pride and the unexpectedness of death” – the speaker believes that it was better for the athlete to die young with pride and honor than to undergo the mortification that awaits him at the end of his career, after working so hard.
Preliminary, the title of the poem seems …show more content…
In stanza two the speaker appears to be speaking to the dead athlete and the grievers in the graveyard. In addition, the speaker had used metaphor to compare the tomb to a house. He told them to “Set the casket down at his threshold” – the entrance of the grave. He referred to the athlete going home to another town; by doing this he was trying to make the athletes death less dramatic and painful; however, he viewed it as a positive phenomenon. The speaker’s presence at both the athletes first big race and a pallbearer at his funeral, suggests that the speaker may be a relative or a very close friend of the …show more content…
He thought it was better than been defeated; “Smart lad, to slip betimes away.” In line ten and eleven, he accentuated that fame and praise are short-lived, “And early though the laurel grows it withers quicker than the rose.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, usually laurel 's branches are woven into a wreath or crown and worn on the head as an emblem of victory or mark of honor in classical times. With this definition we can assume that according to the time the poem was written it was around the era of World War one; therefore, the lives of many ambitious youths may have being lost. He further implied that now that the athlete is dead, he does not have to be concerned about seeing his record broken or missing the cheering of the crowd, because to him the silence of the earth will be of no difference from the cheers of the crowd, for he is gone. The speaker believes that dying young was favorable to the athlete for maintaining his pride, which deems a vital message in the