Housman's "To An Athlete Dying Young"

Text:
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

Initial Reaction:
“To An Athlete Dying Young” is about a runner who has achieved fame and glory, but this glory is merely temporary. He will soon be replaced when another runner will break his record and gain the title. The new winner will have the attention of the townspeople, and the former will be forgotten.

Paraphrasing:

When you won the race for your town

We carried you through the market;

People cheered,

And we brought you home with honor.

Today, the road all must face,

We bring you to the cemetery,

And brought you to your grave,

Citizen of a quieter town.

Smart kid, to slip away

From a place where glory never lasts,

And though the laurel grows quickly

It dies faster than the rose.

Eyes closed by death

Cannot see the record beaten,

And silence is the same as applause

After the runner can no longer hear:

Now you can't add to the mob

Of boys that exhausted their glory,

Runners whose glory escapes their grasp

And who outlive their legacy.

So arrange, before the glory is gone,

The feet on the edge of shade,

And hold up to the low rafter

The coveted trophy.

And around the wreathed boy

People will gather to look upon the deceased,

And find it undisturbed upon his head

The wreath shorter than a girl’s.

SWIFTT:
Syntax/Word Choice:

The poem is composed of 7 four-line stanzas. Each stanza contains one sentence, many of which are complex. The diction includes several words associated with achievement and glory: “chaired,” “glory,” “cheers,” “challenge-cup,” and “garland.” “To An Athlete Dying Young” includes a kenning, “challenge-cup,” which means trophy.

Imagery:

Through the use of diction, Housman allows the readers to formulate images of the victorious runner, in his glory and in his death. They can picture the runner being carried through the town gloriously and later, imagine the crowd gathered around the corpse, admiring his glory and reflecting on his short life.

Figurative Language:

Housman uses a metaphor in this poem. He compares glory to a rose. “And early though the laurel grows / It withers quicker than the rose” (11-12). He uses repetition in the phrase “shoulder-high” in lines 4 and 6 to draw a parallel between when the runner was carried home in celebration of his victory and when he was carried in a coffin to his grave. In addition, Housman uses alliteration as a form of figurative language. Examples include the phrases “road all runners,” “silence sounds,” “runners whom renown outran,” “fleet foot,” “sill of shade,” and “low lintel up.”

Tone:

The tone of the poem is rather indifferent, with a hint of despair. While expressing slight sorrow at the death of the young man, whose life is cut short, “To An Athlete Dying Young” is mostly recounting the story of the young man without much commentary.

Theme:
Housman presents the theme that glory is merely temporary. The public has a short attention span and the glory usually goes to the most recent winner who is at the forefront of their minds. Previous winners are eventually forgotten, and their glory is lost.

Conclusion:

Initially I believed that the poem is about a glorious runner whose died at a young age. While this assertion is correct, I missed one of Housman’s important points: the runner is lucky to have died at a young age, while his glory remains. Unlike most victors, he does not live to see his record beaten and to be replaced and forgotten. Instead, he dies gloriously, with a wreath atop his curls and a crowd full of admirers.