1. To An Athlete Dying Young By: A.E. Houseman Quentin Pruitt, Wade Draper, and Amanda Green

2. Author Bio Alfred Edward Housman 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936, usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside [1]. Their beauty, simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to late Victorian and Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers (beginning with Arthur Somervell) both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself.classical scholarA Shropshire Ladepigrammatic[1] VictorianEdwardianArthur SomervellFirst World WarShropshire Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. [1][2] He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are still considered authoritative. [1][2]private scholarUniversity College London CambridgeJuvenalManiliusLucan

3. Poem 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

4. Poem Analysis The narrator addresses the boy in these lines and throughout the poem as though he is still alive. He reminisces about the boy’s life, reassuring him that it is better to die young. The narrator speaks to the young man who has died. He reminds him of the race that he won and how the entire town celebrated his victory. Today, he is going down the path that all runners run. The men are putting him to rest in the graveyard. The glory of an athlete does not last forever. Most of the time, this success fades faster than it comes. Now that he has died, he cannot lose that fame. That is how he will always be remembered because the glory achieved can be more short-lived than the youth’s life. He feels the young athlete deserves compliments because by dying early he has escaped the possible unhappiness of witnessing his athletic records being broken by some other athlete in the future.

5. Literary Elements/ Devices Rhythm: AABB, CCDD.... Example: First Stanza- race & place, by & high Personification: "silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears." The narration is first person with one of the dead young man’s friends as the speaker. The theme of the poem is the death of the speaker’s reflection on the young athlete’s death serving a positive purpose. The tone initially seems sad and mourning but as the poem progresses, it becomes celebratory for the early death of the boy.

6. Theme Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" has DEATH right there in the title. And since most of the poem takes place at a funeral, you know death is going to pop its ugly, skeletonized head up more than a few times in this one. On the bright side, the way A.E. describes death makes it sound more like a new destination (a new home, moving to a new town) than a dark abyss.

7. Speaker’s attitude (tone) Housman’s cynical view of life may have a certain perverse appeal for young people disenchanted with life. These are the youths who sometimes act on their “death wishes” by taking dangerous risks in fast cars, by experimenting with drugs, or by committing acts of violence that end in suicide. Housman himself was troubled as a youth as a result of his shyness and the fact that his mother died when he was only twelve.