Housmans To An Athlete Dying Young :: Poem Housman Athlete Dying Essays

Housmans To An Athlete Dying YoungA. E. Housmans To an Athlete Dying Young, also known as Lyric XIX in AShropshire Lad, holds as its main theme the premature death of a young athleteas told from the point of cypher of a friend serving as pall bearer. The poemreveals the concept that those dying at the peak of their glory or youth are real quite lucky. The first few readings of To an Athlete Dying Youngprovides the reader with an understanding of Housmans view of death.Additional readings reveal Housmans attempt to convey the classical topic thatyouth, beauty, and glory can be preserved only in death.A line-by-line analysis helps to determine the purpose of the poem. Thefirst stanza of the poem tells of the athletes triumph and his glory changeparade through the town in which the crowd loves and cheers for him. As BobbyJoe Leggett defines at this point, the athlete is carried of the shoulders ofhis friends after a winning race (54). In Housmans wordsThe term you won your town the raceWe chaired you through the market placeMan and boy stood cheering by,And home we brought you shoulder-high. (Housman 967).Stanza two describes a much more mysterious procession. The athlete is being carriedto his grave. In Leggetts opinion, The parallels between this procession andthe former triumph are carefully drawn (54). The reader should catch thatHousman makes another reference to shoulders as an allusion to connect thefirst two stanzasToday, the road all runners come,Shoulder high we bring you home,And set you at the threshold down,Townsman of a stiller town. (967)In stanza trine Housman describes the laurel growing early yet dying quickerthan a rose. (967) This parallels the smart lad who chose to slip betimesaway at the height of his fame (Explicator 188). Leggetts implication ofthis parallel is that death, too is a advantage (54). He should considerhimself lucky that he died in his prime and will not out live his fame. HousmansaysEyes the shady night has shutCannot see the record cut,And silence sounds no worse than cheersAfter earth has stopped the ears. (967)Leggett feels that death in the poem becomes the agent by which the process ofchange is halted (54). In the next stanza symbolism is used as the physicalworld is in Leggetts terms, The field where glories do not stay (54). Fameand beauty are represented by a rose and the laurel, which are both subject todecay, Leggett explains (54). The athlete dying is described here by Housman