Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young"

Housmans To An Athlete dying Young John S. Ward Dr. Larry Brunner A. E. Housmans To an Athlete Dying Young, also known as Lyric XIX in A Shropshire Lad, holds as its main theme the premature death of a young athlete as told from the point of view of a consort serving as p exclusively be ber. The poem reveals the concept that those dying at the peak of their glory or youth are really sooner lucky. The first few readings of To an Athlete Dying Young provides the contributor with an understanding of Housmans view of death. Additional readings reveal Housmans attempt to commune the classical idea that youth, beauty, and glory can be maintain only in death. A line-by-line analysis helps to determine the subprogram of the poem. The first stanza of the poem tells of the athletes triumph and his glory filled adjoin through the town in which the crowd loves and cheers for him. As Bobby Joe Leggett defines at this point, the athlete is carried of the shoulders of his friends after a winning race (54). In Housmans words: The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the food market place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high. (Housman 967). Stanza both describes a much more somber procession.

The athlete is existence carried to his grave. In Leggetts opinion, The parallels between this procession and the former triumph are care all-inclusivey drawn (54). The reader should see that Housman makes another root to shoulders as an allusion to connect the first two stanzas: Today, the road all runners come, Shoulder high we bring you home, And set you at the doorstep down, Townsman of a stiller town. (967) In stanza three Housman describes the laurel festering early yet dying quicker than a rose. (967) This parallels the smart lad who chose to slip betimes out-of-door at the height of his fame (Explicator 188). Leggetts... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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