This article is the first in a series of analyses of poems to come. Each poem, as exemplified in this, will be carefully and thoroughly analyzed to help readers master the skill of poetic appreciation.
A. E Housman, a Victorian poet, had "To an Athlete Dying Young" first published in his anthology, "Shropshire Lad" in 1896. This poem talks about an athlete that dies while still very youthful. This death denies him the chance to witness the breaking of his record. The persona appears to praise this early death for it prevents him from joining the list of athletes who witnessed the death of their names before their own deaths.
To An Athlete Dying Young A.E. Housman
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
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 challengecup.
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.
Summary of the Poem
The first stanza is a flashback to the time when the now-deceased young athlete had won an inter-town athletics competition. Everyone, young and old, celebrated him, and they brought him home on their shoulders.
The second stanza brings us back to the present. The athlete's townsmen are at it again. They are bringing him home, shoulder-high yet again.
The irony, however, is in the fact that he is not celebrating winning a race as he had done before. He has been brought home to be buried.
In the third stanza, the persona praises the deceased athlete for dying early (betimes is archaic for before time. It refers to a situation where something happens before its expected time).
The persona believes that in athletics, if not in all fields where people get fame and glory as a result of their good deeds, the resultant glory does not last.
He compares this fast disappearance of glory to the laurel (a shrub that is usually woven into a wreath then placed on the heads of triumphant athletes) that grows faster than roses then withers before the same roses.
The fourth stanza takes the persona's praise for the athlete's death even further. The persona believes it's okay for the athlete to have died betimes because this will ensure that he does not witness the breaking of the record he set while alive.
The soil has shut his eyes. At the same time, it has shut his ears to the cheers of his fans, and the only thing he can "hear" is silence, which sounds as good as the cheers.
The praise continues in the fifth stanza. Here, the persona claims the deceased athlete will not be one of those whose fame faded while they still lived.
He will not be among those whose fame died before they did, making them ordinary people by the time they die.
In the second-last stanza, the deceased athlete's casket is at the gravesite. So, the persona advises the pallbearers to send off the athlete before his fame disappears.
Both "sill" and 'lintel" have been symbolically used to refer to the gateway to death. The deceased needs to be buried while his fame still lasts.
Once this is done, the townsmen should lift up the trophy he won, which is still his (still-defended) for no other person has won it. His record still stands.
In the last stanza, the persona recounts how the athlete's townsmen come to his home in large numbers to look at their renowned runner for the last time.
What they see is a dead body with no strength. However, the laurel is still fresh because the athlete died at the height of his success.
He finishes off by reminding us that fame can sometimes fade faster than the garlands of flowers that girls make.
Analysis
The persona talks about death with a tone of approval. He is okay or seems okay with the athlete's early death as he believes this makes his fame to last for eternity.
The persona appears to be admiring the deceased young athlete for having won a trophy for his town and for having died while he was still famous.
Subject matter and theme
The subject matter of this poem is an athlete who wins the inter-town trophy for his town. He dies shortly after, but the persona praises him for that.
Accordingly, this early death preserves his record and fame. Moreover, it ensures that he does not live to see and hear about the breaking of his record.
The themes in the poem include death, fame, and the transitions people experience in life.
Poetic devices used
A. E. Housman uses a number of literary devices to pass his message to the audience. Among them:
Personification
The shady night has been given the ability to shut eyes while "renown" has been given the quality to run. In fact, to outrun runners. "Name" has also been made to die.
Metaphor-"stiller town" metaphorically refers to the grave or cemetery
laurels-achievements
shady night-death
Comments
Post a Comment