To an Athlete Dying Young Poetry Analysis

By: Emmanuel Williamson

I. Introduction

To An Athlete Dying Young Alfred Edward Housman was born at Valley

House, Fockbury in 1859 .  From 1882 to 1892 he worked at the Patent Office in London and devoted himself to classical studies and to establish himself as a scholar to regain his pride. He astounded his students and colleagues by the publication of his first collection of poems “A Shropshire Lad”. When his poems became well known, Housman was surprised to find people making literary pilgrimages to see the places he had immortalised. In 1911 Housman became Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge where his reputation as a classical scholar continued to grow. 

I. Introduction

This poem was publish during the Victorian Period, the reign of Queen Victoria’s (1837-1901),where she was named Empress of India, two Boer Wars, the Elementary Education Act of 1870 and was popular during World War I.

A.E Houseman uses personifications, similes, and a sorrow tone to make this poem seem sad.

I. Introduction The poem illustrates the story of an athlete loved and admired by all,

famous throughout the village. However, it then goes on to describe the fleeting nature of fame and talent itself, as the "silence sounds no worse that cheers/ after earth has stopped the ears." This would imply that the people who once admired him are no longer cheering- his period of fame has expired, as it does for everyone once in the limelight. Their names died before the man, in that their fame has faded as they grow old and their talent disappears- their names will never be remembered once they are gone. "Runners whom renown outran" is a personification of the word "renown," a noun meaning fame or reverence. This would imply that he is constantly running to catch up with this fame, but in the end, "renown" outruns him. Now, in the fourth stanza, the author explains that the only way to avoid this emptiness is to quit while you're ahead, so to speak. "So set, before its echoes fade," in that one must accept that he or she will not be famous forever. For those who do this, the laurel around one's head will be therewith his pride is preserved. This contrasts with "early though the laurel grows, it withers quicker than the rose." As laurels are a symbol of victory and championship, but are also temporary by nature, the poem enforces the fact that those who "die young," or quit while they are ahead, do not have to go through the indignity of fading away.

II. Theme and Tone

The overall theme is life. In “To an Athlete Dying Young”, the

authors uses lines like in stanza 4 (And silence sounds more worse than cheers), in stanza 5 (Now you will not swell the rout   Of lads that wore their honours out), and in stanza 7 (And find unwithered on its curls   The garland briefer than a girl's.)

III. Figurative language and Poetic Devices

The author uses personification in stanza 3 (And early though the laurel grows), and stanza 4 (After earth has stopped the ears), and similes in stanza 3 (It withers quicker than the rose), and stanza 7 (The garland briefer than a girl's).

IV. Poem Interprentation

Poem Annotation

V. Conclusion

A.E Houseman uses personifications, similes, and a sorrow tone to make this poem seem sad.

The mood, figurative language and poetic devices made the poem feel like you actually knew the person.