To An Athlete Dying
Young
By: A.E. Housman
Ashley Odegard and Natalie Neisen
Historical Context
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A.E. Housman was born March 26th 1959
Written during the MODERN period
Published in 1896 in between the two Boer
Wars
Poem gained even more popularity during
World War One (ode to the soldiers)
From the beginning he knew what his life's
work was to be: redaction — the search for
truth through correcting scribal errors in
classical texts
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the marketplace;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder high
Today, the road 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 through the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honors 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-laureled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.
Title
The title seems to suggest this poem
will be an elegy or dedicated to an
athlete who unexpectedly died.
Paraphrase
The time you won your town the
race We chaired you through the
marketplace: Man and boy stood
cheering by, And home we
brought you shoulder-high.
When you won the race, we carried
you through town. Everyone
cheered and we brought you
home on our shoulders.
Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you
home, And set you at your
threshold down, Townsman of a
stiller town.
Today everyone is coming, we carry
you shoulder high again, but in a
casket. We set you down and the
town is still.
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.
You are smart to go away before your
glory faded because fame never
lasts long.
Paraphrase
Eyes the shady night has shut Cannot
see the record cut, And silence
sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
You will never see the record you set
or be able to tell the difference
between cheers and silence
because you are gone.
Now you will not swell the rout Of
lads that wore their honors out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the
man.
At least you won't be like all the
others runners whose glory faded
and were left with nothing.
Paraphrase
So set, before its echoes fade, The
fleet foot on the sill of shade, And
hold to the low lintel up The stilldefended challenge cup.
And round that early-laurled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless
dead, And find unwithered on its
curls The garland briefer than a
girl's.
So we leave you in the shade here
with your trophy and your records
and glory.
Everyone will flock to your grave to
see you even though your glory
was very brief.
Connotation
-Written in iambic tetrameter
(The time you won your town the race)
Some lines change to trochaic tetrameter
(Eyes the shady night has shut)
-This metric pattern adds a mournful feeling to the poem.
-Housman uses metaphors to create a more abstract theme of death.
(glory to a withering rose, home to graveyard)
- Apostrophe- talks to the athlete even though he has passed away.
-Personification- (earth has stopped the ears)
Attitude (Tone)
- Celebratory- Housman seems to imply
that it may be better to die when
you're young and in your prime,
rather than grow old and watch your
accomplishments fade away.
Shift
- There are two clear shifts- one in metric pattern and one in tone.
- Metric pattern shifts from iambic tetrameter to trochaic
tetrameter in the fourth stanza.
This stanza makes it the most clear that the runner has
died, so the shift causes the reader to slow down and
realize this and to mourn the athlete.
- The tone shifts after the second stanza.
The tone shifts from joyous and impressed by the runner
to mournful and depressed over the runner's death.
Title
Housman chose this title to show make it more clear the
point of the death he was trying to make and to show the
poems dedication. The title makes the reader ready for a
sad story about an unexpected death.
Theme
- Glory and fame fades away.
(From fields where glory does not stay)
-We can not take our life or our abilities
for granted.
(And the name died before the man)
Theme
- Form- lyrical and elegy
The poem is about a serious topic of death and fading
glory, but also mourns the death of the runner.
-Purpose-This poem reflects on life and working so
hard for something that will have no value once we are
gone.
Bibliography
Cummings, Michael J. "To an Athlete Dying Young." To an Athlete Dying Young. N.p., June 2012. Web. 25
Apr. 2013.http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Housman.html
a)This source helps to break down the poem and discusses different lines within the poem by restating them in
different words as well as giving helpful insights.
b)This source is credible because it has a decent sense of authority. On the contact me page, the author lists his
past professions as an english teacher, editor of a publishing company, and an author of multiple books.
This article was also updated less than a year ago so its currency helps make it even more credible.
c)We specifically chose this website to help us with the paraphrasing portion of the power point. We used the
information found on this website tot form a better understanding about what this poem was really about
and develop a deeper understanding of what it meant by reading it in simpler terms on this website.
Sullivan, Dick. "A. E. Housman: A Life in Brief." A. E. Housman: A Life in Brief. N.p., 8 June 2007. Web. 25
Apr. 2013.http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/housman/bio.html
a)This source helped give insight to the life and history of the author of this poem, A.E. Housman. It stated
some basic facts about his early life and when his poems were published.
b)This source is also credible because it has a very good amount of authority. The author of this website had a
bibliography with about ten other sources listed on it. After checking out these other listed websites it was
clear that they were written by trustworthy professionals including some professors from Cambridge
University. This article is also very objective. It just presents straight facts and does not try to sell you on
any point of view .
c)We specifically chose this website to help with the history part of the power point. It gave very good, accurate
information on the author and time period. All the information listed on the history slideshow was taken
from this website and no other website that we saw gave as appropriate and helpful information.