Beginning of Essay
“To An Athlete Dying Young” 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 ....

Middle of Essay
.... young is considered by most to be one of the most tragic of fates. The specter of deeds not accomplished and a life unlived haunts the funeral “…set you at your threshold down” (Housman l. 7), and causes the grief to reach a higher level. Most people desire to live to a ripe old age and they would be aghast to have a premature death viewed through a positive light. Yet a “positive funeral” is exactly the driving force behind A.E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young.” The poem states outright that it is better to die in the glory of youth than to rest too long on one’s laurels, only to see ....