TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG
A.E. HOUSMAN
Write an essay on
the poem, stating in the first paragraph your own version of what the poem is
about. Then go on to show how the poet's choices of words and images contribute
to the meaning of the poem. Note especially the use of color.
"To an Athlete Dying
Young"
by A. E. Housman (1859 - 1936)
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 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 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.