To An Athlete Dying Young Poem Analysis

High school is seen as some of the best years of your life. High school is a time full of laughs, drama, fun and friends. Some students main focus are their academics because they realize that the knowledge gained will carry with them forever, however, others focus on clubs and sports. In the poem, “To An Athlete Dying Young” by AE Housman, one athlete’s glory obtained in high school remained for the majority of his life. However, in the poem “Ex-Basketball Player” by John Updike, as the athlete's age grew, his fame demolished. In the poems the people in the athletes town think differently about the fame of the former athletes and both authors show the people's feeling through the use of mood and personification. The athletes in the poems by Housman and Updike were one of the best athletes of their time. Their glory remained throughout the duration of their high school careers and both athlete’s town’s people carried them in their times of glory. The residents, “chaired [them] through the market-place” (Housman 2). Housman shows the mood of the civilians by saying they chaired them around. They were so proud of the athletes that they paraded them about for everyone in the town to …show more content…
Flick, the athlete in Updike’s poem, was a ball magnet, “the ball loved Flick” (Updike 16). Updike uses personification to show that as long as the ball loves Flick, the crowd does too. When the ball did not love Flick, however, the crowd did not idolize him and viewed him as simply ordinary. Also, the basketball player’s, “hands were like wild birds,” thus making the crowd fawn over him (Updike 18). Updike uses personifications to stress that the athlete was virtually untouchable. As people, we cannot touch a bird flying, Updike compares Flick to a wild bird because when he was playing basketball the opponents could not keep hold of him, and he too was