to an athlete dieing young
... idea, the laurel is a prominent conventional symbol in this poem because of its images of athletic victory deriving from ancient Olympic Games in Greece. But another important image derived from the laurel, is its lack of vitality. Laurels are a short-lived plant, and in the context of the poem, is a direct metaphor of the athlete. This is also related to the images of the rose, “it withers quicker then the rose”. Roses are generally related to youth and beauty, which in the case of this poem, the images of a rose would be a conventional symbol. Housman uses the rose to foil the Athlete. The rose is only beautiful for a short period before it withers away, and is inevitably forgotten. A poignant symbol in the poem is the images of being carried shoulder high. “We chaired you through the market place; …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.” The narrator reflects on a different time when the athlete was carried shoulder high for winning a race, and now he’s being carried shoulder high in his casket. This can be seen as the athlete never being seen in any other way then shoulder high, because the two most memorable moments in the memory of the town’s people are when he’s being carried above everyone else. These conventional symbols helps to prove the theme that it’s better to die in one’s prime, rather then fade away. Another element in the poem is Housman’s use of irony. The obvious is his idea of death. He portrays death as something meaningless unless one can die when they’re at the peak of their existence. He says this in the fifth stanza, “Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honors out, Runners whom renown outran And the name dies before the man”. The idea is that in order to be remembered for the life you lived, one has to give up on experiencing most of life. Another ironic point in the poem is the idea that the athlete will never have to see someone else break his records. To be an athlete, one must me competitive. It’s essential for the race and the strive to be greater then the next. Yet in the poem, the athlete will never be able to better himself, or see someone else break his records. This can go both ways, good and bad, but in the sense that he will never be able to know how good he could have been is not only poignant, but also ironic though the idea of life and death. The last element of that helps prove the theme is persona. From the first 2 stanzas, on...