In “Ex-Basketball Player” by John Updike and “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman, each author has a different attitude toward his character. John Updike’s attitude toward his character Flick is of disappointment and pity. “Flick stands tall among the idiot pumps-“(1). He believes that Flick should not be employed at a gas station because his talent with basketball is so much better than pumping gas. He does not believe that he blends in at the gas station; he believes that he belongs on the basketball court, putting his talent to good use. The author states that he stands tall, meaning that his expectations are higher than what he is making them. “He never learned a trade, he just sells gas, /checks oil, and changes flats” (1). The author is disappointed in him because he never learned anything in school except how to play basketball. He passed in his classes easily with the help of teachers because he was the star player. Now that high school is over, he does not have basketball to rescue him, which is why the author is disappointed in his decisions that he made in the past. He believes that he should live up to his potential.…
the poem is that children do not think about death. In fact, they do not even know that the…
You may have your heads up high for what you have accomplish, but it would soon wither into nothing but despair. In the poem "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A. E. Housemen, he uses diction, imagery, and allusion of a poem to identify the tone and theme of an athlete's life ending short. In the first stanza of the poem, the author gives an imagery of a town celebrating the victory of an athlete. However, the author surprises the reader the fact that the athlete is no longer sitting on the chair of victory, but instead in a coffin. The word "stiller" was used to express the tone of sorrow and the shock that the village felt. However the poem, explains how all of the runners of a race comes to an end, which is death. The third stanza, the author…
The glory of the athlete in “To An Athlete Dying Young” is portrayed as the speaker directly addresses the athlete while the speaker of “Ex-Basketball Player” tell the story of an athlete whose glory is fading. Housman’s speaker directly addresses the athlete through out the poem to give the athlete more encouragement and clearly indicate that it is better to die young. Through out the poem, the speaker stresses the benefits of dying young by addressing the athlete directly as well as showing his honor for the young dead athlete. The speaker knows that the athlete will not see his glory fade since he tells the athlete, “you will not swell the rout of lads who wore their honors out”(18). The word “you” puts great emphasis on the line and appeals more to the readers as it directly speaks to the athlete. Since the speaker directly addresses the athlete there is more satisfaction present in the readers. The readers know that the death of the athlete was for his own benefit as now he will be better remembered. While Housman’s speaker directly addresses the athlete to emphasize that dying young will help the athlete’s glory to survive, Updike’s speaker simply tells the life story of an athlete who has lost…
In the poems of Dickinson “Because I could not stop for Death”, Housman “To an Athlete Dying Young, and Thomas “Do not go gentle into that good night” were written in different time period or era, it also seemed to refer to perceptions death; however, these poems could be referring as life experiences. Dickinson in her poem it seemed to have a connection with death the afterlife, Housman expressed acceptance towards, and in Thomas’s poem the author seemed to express desired to be alive and to fight death.…
Housman’s speaker describes the early death of the deceased as: “Smart lad, to slip betimes away / From fields where glory does not stay” (“Athlete” 9-10). Throughout the poem, the speaker gives praised to the deceased by showing his appreciation and honor that he holds for young deceased athlete: “The time you won your town the race / We chaired you through the market-place; / Man and boy stood cheering by, (“Athlete”1-3). “Now you will not swell the rout / Of lads that wore their honors out,” (“Athlete”17-18). The speaker positively reminisces about the athlete life and accomplishments. The speaker’s words paint a picture that the athlete did indeed die young but that his accomplishments will forever be a legacy. Housman’s speaker directly addresses the athlete to show respect and honor to the deceased…
Both "In Memory of My Dear Grandchild" by Anne Bradstreet and "Meditaion 8" by Philip Pain express two contrasting point of views in relation to death. Bradstreet's diction and use of literary elements, such as metaphors and alliteration, are skillfully arranged throughout the poem which aid in making the theme of dying seem inevitable. Pain uses two different tones to create a turning point in his thoughts about halfway through his poem which gives the reader a better idea of his stages of feelings towards passing away. Each poet describes the theme of death according to their personal experiences and thoughts and makes whoever reads their work think about life in a different way. Life is precious and can not be wasted.…
Mark Twain once said, "The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time." A.E. Houseman, in the tragic poem “'To an Athlete Dying Young," examines the themes of youth and premature death. The poem addresses a young runner who epitomized glory by winning a race and earning the heart of his townsmen. The triumph of the youth's winning of a race is matched by the ironic triumph of his death. The usage of metaphoric language, imagery, sophisticated literature, and rhyming couplets created a complex poem that obtains these subjective themes. The effectiveness of the poem contributes to the overall purpose Housman was trying to propose, for the speaker of the poem examines how the individual in…
The poem fades out with the lyrics of the Singing Boy’s life. “You spook, you punk, you coon in green grass you lie in vainyou die too too too you slain under alabaster moon too-soon too-soon too-soon.” These lines summarize what the poem is about; an unnecessary, unreasonable death of a young man with his entire life ahead of him.…
“To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Houseman is about death and how young people have it easier dying than older people. The speaker begins the poem by describing a happy moment in the young person’s life. “The time you won your town the race / we chaired you through the market place;” (Line 1-2) When I read this first two sentences it was something I can relate because my team has won before and that feeling of joy that you get at the moment is worth all the obstacles. In stanza two, the speaker starts talking about the person’s funeral and how his death had a big impact on people. “Shoulder-high we bring you home/ and set you at your threshold down” (Line 6-7) Despite the sadness, the speaker has a way of making the reader feel comfortable…
Sports medicine is a lot more than people think it is. It is not just running out on the football field when someone gets injured and walking them to the sidelines and making sure they are okay, it is not just telling someone not to play a sport for a certain amount of time so that they can let their body take a rest. It is looking into the body and figuring out which muscles and bones cannot handle as much pressure and pain as the others. It is surgery and sometimes crushing people’s dreams of never being able to play their favorite sport again.…
There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…
The introductory stanza says that old age should do something against the other things and should not give up and do nothing. In stanza 2 to 5 the author lists a few groups of people: wise men, good men, wild men and grave men and describes their actions with a few metaphors. In the last stanza Dylan Thomas speaks to his father. Wise, good, wild and grave men (of all personalities and every persuasion) do not surrender to Death easily. While Death is "good" and irresistible, the final spark of life in every man, must blaze both defiantly and furiously against the force that extinguishes it. The poem is an exhortation to die gloriously, resisting the inexorable advance of the inevitable.…
The poem employs a style similar to that of contemporary odes, but it embodies a meditation on death, and remembrance after death. The poem is a rhyme scheme. In line forty-two “mansion” is implicitly compared to body and this is an example of metaphor, which consists that the soul resides in the body. Another example of a metaphor is “pregnant with celestial fire” it is an implicit comparison and hence constitutes. This poem’s message is a warning that darkness is within everyone. Yet this darkness has only as much power as a person allows it. Each person has the power to change humanity for the best or worse depending on his or her desires. The poem argues that the remembrance can be good and bad, and the narrator finds comfort in pondering the lives of the obscure rustics buried in the…
The poem is not, nonetheless, merely a way to express personal grief. Even though the “I” of In Memoriam is at times totally linked with the poet. Tennyson, the poet himself alleged that it is recurrently proposed to symbolize how the human race expresses and communicates through him. The individual sorrow and uncertainty became a microcosm for the distress being beared by the men and women of the 19th century who had been moving away from faith in traditional religion, as the evolvements in science were getting on to the ending that as such there was no divine hand which existed to guide. The speaker actually gets troubled through the loss he has beared but he gradually consents to the notion that, regardless of the external signs of confusion, and disorder the world actually becoming a better place to live in; his friend Hallam enters in to be seen as a messenger of a superior reace which will show way to humankind to lead them to God.…