Analysis Of To An Athlete Dying Young By A. E Housman

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A.E. Housman was a man of great opposites which means his poetry seems to be so very delicate and full of gentle regret, but he himself was a very hash self-disciplined man. He happened to write several poems and one of them is titled “To an Athlete Dying Young” which happens to talk about the advantages of dying young before an athlete’s glory does. This is a very sad topic to write on and gives an insight into the dreary life that Housman lived, but that is a topic for another day. However he did accomplish three messages in the poem “To an Athlete Dying You” like pride is important to an athlete, your people will take you to your home, and you will be able to die a very happy person. Surprisingly, the first message from “To an Athlete …show more content…

What an ironic concept that a person can go to death happy because death is never a joyful experience for anyone. “Eyes the shady night has shut/ Cannot see the record cut/ And silence sounds no worse than cheers/ After earth has stopped the ears” (A.E Housman pg. 1092 lines. 13-16) So, the first part of this particular quote is talking about eyes that have been closed by death will never live to see their record broken by another athlete. This would be the easiest way for an athlete to die happy because they would go down in their own minds as the top or number one person in their sport. The second part of this quote speaks about the sounds a dead person hears which is silence of course, but when he says “silence sounds no worse than cheers” he means to say that the athlete will die remembering the sounds of people cheering and since he is dead the sounds don’t matter. If an athlete could die before that record was broken they could remember the time of everyone cheering and how great that day was which allows a happy death. However, if an athlete lives to see their record broken then they may focus on that moment the record was broke and die a life focused on regret. So, basically an unbroken record means an unbroken heart and that equals a happy

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