“To an Athlete Dying Young” is an
elegiac poem by
the British Victorian poet A.E. Housman, originally published in his bestselling collection Shropshire Lad (1896). The poem focuses on a funeral held for an athlete who, as the title suggests, has died young.
What figurative language is used in To an Athlete Dying Young?
In A.E. Housman’s poem “To an Athlete Dying Young,” the poet uses
the metaphor of the runner , an athlete
, to represent all those who have died young while still in their prime and glory. Furthermore, the image of the athlete as he wins the race and is…
What is the main irony of the poem To an Athlete Dying Young?
The most central feature of “To an Athlete Dying Young” is the premise of the poem. The poem suggests that
a successful athlete is better off dying young, because the best of life is behind him
. The athlete dying young is the lucky athlete. Irony is used here to treat society’s hero worship of athletes.
Is an Athlete Dying Young a ballad?
A ballad is a narrative poem in regular four-line stanzas. … Like most of the other poems in A Shropshire Lad (the collection in which it was published), “To an Athlete Dying Young” has regular
meter and rhyme
, giving it a musical quality. Like a ballad, the poem tells a story.
What type of poem is To an Athlete Dying Young?
Style. “To an Athlete Dying Young” is written in the form of
a lyric ballad, or narrative song
, and is, like most of the poems in A Shropshire Lad, a dramatic monologue wherein a persona tells a story. The poem is composed of seven quatrains, or stanzas of four lines each.
How does Housman view death?
Housman’s commonly read “
To an Athlete Dying Young
,” for example, present death as a way to celebrate a young life lived to its fullest. Dylan Thomas’ well-read villanelle “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” by contrast, takes a different look at death: fight until the end, regardless of its inevitability.
