Advantages of Dying Young

A.E. Housman’s poem, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” reflects the life of a young athlete’s victory not only in a small town race, but also a victory in his death. Housman uses short and choppy words to express his ideas. The simplicity of this poem is the best quality the poem possesses. A good example of the poem’s simplicity is the fact that barely any words contain more than two syllables. The reader must carefully analyze the poem in order to realize the poem’s true meaning. Even though Housman uses choppy words in his poetry, he is really trying to explain his poetry more elaborately. Housman’s writing style is extremely effective in this poem because the athlete lived a short life, yet, he lived his life elaborately.
The first stanza describes the athlete’s victory in a town race where “man and boy stood cheering by” for the special occasion. In the second stanza, however, the athlete has come to “the road all runners come,” referring to his death. The...