Ideally speaking, Housman has illustrated his gift of poetic craft in “To an Athlete Dying Young”. The consistent application of metaphor, rhyme and figurative languages together with careful usage of somber reflective mood witnessed right from the beginning of the first stanza and throughout the poem shows the author’s poetic prowess (Frost, James, pg 5). Moreover, the contradicting images and symbols such as the triumph parade and the interment cortege, the rose and the laurel bring complexity to deceivingly simple poem. In the entire poem, the speaker congratulates the young and eminent athlete for dying at a young and prime age rather than dying at old age when one and all his or her achievements are forgotten.

In the first line of the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”, the author Housman tries to illustrate the great accomplishment of the young athlete who brought proud to his people by winning a race. This great achievement of winning a race was so dear to the people of his town that they carried him shoulder high, praising him as they pass through the market to his home (Housman, 1-3). The significance of his achievement is also seen in the manner in which everybody both young and old cheered the young hero in the second, third and fourth line in the first stanza of the poem. The cheering of the hero as he passes through the crowd is also witnessed in the manner in which the former United states president JF Kennedy got cheered and applauded during his tour of campaign. Owing to what he had achieved so far, although being a young president of 46 years for the people of America, the president received accolades in both republican and democratic states.

The young athlete because of the pride and accomplishment he brought to his people earned him fame and love by his people and this can also be compared to the love and fame the young John .F. Kennedy enjoyed from the people during his tenure as the president of the United States of America. President Kennedy became famous and a darling to many American families owing to the great achievements he accomplished in both domestic policies and foreign policy achievements (Jim Jarris, pg 17). For instance, with respect to domestic achievement, President Kennedy promoted domestic programs and policies that encourage the federal funding of education, economic aid to rural areas, comprehensive medical care for the elderly American in the society and federal intervention to stop the recession of the moment. The president also signed orders and policies prohibiting racial biasness and discrimination and laid the foundation for civil rights Acts. Based on the foreign achievements, the president promoted ideas and policies that encourages helping of the underdeveloped countries in terms of education, health and infrastructural development. These achievements stood out to the people of America and beyond as one of their great victories that was worth celebrated hence adoring the president.

In the second stanza of the poem, the author illustrates how the hero is brought home again in the shoulder high but in this case, the word home in the second line of the second stanza has been used metaphorically to symbolize grave. The young hero has just died one year later after winning the race and making a great achievement to his people. Death has been illustrated figuratively by the author when he said “road all runners come” in the first line of the second stanza. Although the young hero is still celebrated at his death, the mood of the town has been described by the author as stiller in the last line of the stanza. This melancholy mood of the town is a complete opposite of the noisy and cheerful town that was witnessed when the young athlete was celebrated just in a few months past.

Evidently, the second stanza contradicts largely the first stanza. Throughout both stanzas, the race is different. The young athlete now travelling “the road all runners come,” and carried shoulder high is being carried by the same men in a coffin and laid to rest in “stiller town”, which is used figuratively to symbolize cemetery.

The death of the young athlete can also be compared with that of US president JF Kennedy, who having made tremendous achievements and became a darling to many of his people at both locally and internationally , died when it was least expected. This was because, at his age of barely forty six years, the people of America expected the young president to achieve more and expected more great happenings to come during his tenure, given that he was at his peak. Just like the young athlete, all the same the death of the young American president was celebrated and is still being celebrated not because of their demise but because of what they achieved for their people at a young and prime age.

In the third stanza, the Housman ironically congratulates the death of the young athlete. In many occasions, death of an achiever especially a young achiever is normally met with lamentation and dirge by the public but in contrast, in this case, the death of the young athlete was welcomed and celebrated and the speaker goes ahead to praise the hero “smart lad” as he puts it and not “a poor lad”. He also congratulates him for dying “betimes” to show that the young has though has died in his prime age did not commit suicide.

The speaker is completely serious and airs out his views on behalf of the poet. This implies that the irony   depicted here is neither verbal nor dramatic but circumstantial. In both scenarios, the speaker and the poet view the young athlete as fortunate (Steven, pg 11). However, the irony is found in the divergence between our expectation as seen in the title of the poem and the first two stanzas and the athlete’s demise, which is described by the poet as tragic and pathetic and our finding that is viewed quite otherwise (Eliot, pg 114).

In the fifth stanza, speaker congratulates the youthful athlete for yet another victory on one more race, which is dying at a young age when still famous. The speaker argues that the young athlete has uphold and compete for his fame to the grave, and emerged victorious, meaning, he has died while his name and fame is still in people’s mind. Similarly, the youthful American president although was assassinated while taking the campaign to the Texas, which is a region perceived to be one of the strongholds of the republicans, the president carried his legacy and fame to the grave, something that according to the speaker’s knowledge, is a victory to the fallen and is worth celebrated Housman.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker once more converse with to the fallen athlete and advice him to set his “fleet foot on the sill of the shade”, hold to the low lintel up and the still-defended challenge-cup. In this case, the speaker has used “sill of the shade” symbolically to mean the threshold of the entrance to the tomb, while the still-defended challenge-cup is used figuratively to symbolize the trophy that the athlete won in the race, and is normally given to the victor each year with his or her name inscribed in it (Beaty, Jerome, and William, pg 34).

In the remaining part of the poem, the speaker praises the young athlete for having died at a young age, while he was still honored and cherished by his people for great achievements he brought them, rather than die at old age when he would be forgotten. This is evidenced in the third stanza when he calls him “smart lad” for leaving the earth, which is a place where “glory does not stay”. He guarantees the fallen young athlete that he is fortunate because he will not at all have to witness someone breaks his record, and he will always listened to the cheering of the crowds once the “earth has stopped his ears.”

This implies that based on the speaker’s perspective on the fallen young athlete, the young athlete will not be one of those athlete champions whom are outrun later on, wore their reputation, respect and honor our and the name dying before the man. Therefore, according to the speaker, the young athlete died at a good age and time before he could get reduced into a man, who once made several achievements but has since become insignificant and obscurity. He console the young man with the idea that his fame and charisma will always remain among the weak dead and his crown of achievements will never fade.

The speaker evidently believes that life is full of displeasures and disappointments and so, it would be meaningless for one to live out a normal full lifespan, but rather die at a young age, when one is still prime at his or her age and his achievements is still fresh in people’s mind, owing to the idea according to the speaker, that fame and achievements quickly varnishes from people’s mind, even before the achiever dies. For instance, in the last line of the third stanza, the speaker has symbolically used rose to symbolize fame. The “rose” has been known to be a symbol of girl’s beauty and although the athlete fame is earned by young athlete men, the speaker asserts that the duration of this fame is short-lived and is shorter that a girl’s beauty.

The death of an American president in 1963 at his prime age similarly left behind scores of achievement of a personality whom to many Americans and non American was a celebrated hero. The fallen president just like the athlete, will not live to see his successors breaks the record he set, and his achievements still lingers in people’s mind to date. This shows that having died at a young age, his fame and popularity is perpetually celebrated hitherto and the reverse could have been true, had he died at an old age, when his fame and respect could have faded and him reduced into obscurity.

In conclusion, Housman in his poem, mainly focuses on the life of a youth based on his or her achievements, fame and beauty. According to Housman, it is desirable for one to die at a young age, while still enjoying the fame and respects, as opposed to dying at an old age when one is forgotten including his achievements. The death of the young athlete can be compared in many ways to that of youthful president of America, JF Kennedy, who died at a younger age of 46 years and left behind huge legacy, achievements and accomplishment that are still celebrated to date by both American and the non-American people. Given that President Kennedy died at a younger age, he upholds his fame and respect to the grave something that according to Housman is a victory to the fallen and is worth celebrated.

Work Cited

Frost, James. ” Analysis of to an Athlete Dying Young.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. New York: Heinle and Heinle, 2002. 99-100.

Jim Jarris “Crossfire” The Plot that Killed Kennedy”, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. 1989.

Housman, A. E..; To an Athlete Dying Young. Complete poems. [1st ed. New York: Holt, 1959.

Eliot, T.S. ” Analysis of to an Athlete Dying Young.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 110-115.

Beaty, Jerome, and William H. Matchett. Poetry from statement to meaning. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965

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