‘To An Athlete Dying Young’

[darkangel8603]

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.

To-day, 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.

a poem written by A.E Housman

What do you think this poem means? What is your opinion of the poem do you disagree or agree??

 

[januaryhands]

When I was younger, I used to read the series "Tomorrow when the war began" by John Marsden. Then I got right into his other books- the names are beyond me at the moment lol... But John Marsden the author I believe, mentioned the poem, "To an athlete dying young" somewhere in one of his books and as I was obessed with his books, I read the poem.

But honestly, the poem doesnt really stir much inside me. All I can interpret from this poem is that, it is simply time that changes a person and its the memories that linger however the memories may not seem as it was before. But I was never quite good at interpreting poetry so I could be very wrong but that is simply what it means to me after reading that poem. That and I like how it is nicely written..

 

[apathrev]

I remember reading this poem in my High School senior English class, and we had a discussion about the poem and its meaning. Basically the poem is concluding that it is better to die young and while on top, than to live on while your glory fades. Very moving poem. In short, people who die in their prime are remembered more as heroes, more than those who live to grow old and watch their fame dim with time.