To an Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman

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:

The poem focuses about an athlete who dies at his prime. Although the poem begins with the boy winning the race and having success, the rest of the poem mourns at how the boy died at his prime.

Paraphrase:

The time you won the race
The people of the town carried you around town;
As all the people cheered, Men
brought you home on their shoulders. And

Today all the other runners gathered,and
  we carry your coffin shoulder-high,
And set you down at your threshold,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart boy, to fade away,
From the land where glory is not eternal,
And even though the trees grow
They die quicker than a rose.

Your shut eyes
Cannot see the record cut,
And the silence of the people that is no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not have to be on the same path
As boys who run out of glory,
Runners who outran the path
And whose glory died before them.

So you die before your glory fades,
The fast feet on the shades,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still possessed trophy.

And round that head
Will be the people that stare at the dead,
And find lying on the curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

SWIFTT:

{SW} Syntax/ Word Choice: 
              This poem is actually a lyric poem with the rhyme sceme “aabb.” Written in seven stanzas  (consisting of 4 lines each) the poem uses somber and depressing words. For example, the poem consists of words such as, “Your shut eyes/ Cannot see the record cut,” “eyes…shut,” and “echoes fade.”

{I} Imagery:

The poem paints the image of a young athlete who won a race, but shortly after died. His funeral is the only event that provides imagery, where the coffin is held “shoulder-high,” which is how the boy was held when he won the race.  

{F} Figurative Language:

 The entire poem is a paradox, as the boy glamorously won the horse race, but lost the rae of life. Two examples of paradox in Yeats’ poem are as follows: finding fame in death and “silence sounds.” Also, “To an Athlete Dying Young” is an extended apostrophe.

{T} Tone:

 The tone is very somber, as the poem depicts the young athlete who died just as he had won the race. This can be seen in lines such as, “It withers quicker than the rose” and “Eyes the shady night has shut.”  

{T} Theme:

 The theme of this poem is that when somone dies at their prime, people always wonder of “what could have been;” people begin to wonder what else the person could have accomplished had he been alive. For example, one who achieved glory and then died would not be “name died before the man.”   

Conclusion:

After analyzing the poem, my concluding thoughts do not differ from my initial thoughs. The poem is about a young athlete who dies at his prime. Although the poem is written in a simple structure, the author robustly convey the message that when a person who died during their prime, they leave behind people who wonder what the athlete could have achieved if they were alive.