Christian Murillo
English 495
Professor Wexler
September 22, 2013
Death and Glory
There are
two lines from A.E. Housman’s cross-rhythm, quatrain poem, “To an Athlete Dying
Young” that have always haunted me: “Runner whom renown outran, and the name
died before the man” (Smith, 75). These two lines indicate such an awful and melancholy
induced state of existence; to push and condition your body beyond the limits
of its capabilities to still be outrun by fame and then to watch your name
crumple and crumble into dust before your body is ready to give up must be
every athletes nightmare. As such, I have always viewed this poem as a lament for
all those nameless, faceless runners whose names never endured time; however,
after reading Robert Browne’s “Funeral Orator” and E. Christian Kopff’s “Conservatism
and Creativity,” I am now rescinded to agree that the poem itself is not meant
to be taken as sorrowful but rather as joyous. This is theory is thus demonstrated
by two distinct, motivating factors; Browne argues that as Housman purposefully
praises the athlete’s death by regarding his choices as “smart,” Housman is
therefore indicated that there is pride and glory in an early death. This
theory of a glorious death is also indicated and upheld by Kopff’s work which provides
us with specific quotes from Housman’s life that affirm his conception of a
meaningful end. As such, rather than simply assuming that his poem is a
reflection on the melancholy nature of death, it is therefore with regard to
Housman’s text and life that we will see that although this poem is about
dying, it is anything but a death that is to be mourned, instead it is about a
death that should be praised and sung to the heavens; a very welcome death that
took the athlete before time could find and diminish his name; this poem is
ultimately about a death draped not in the mortician’s cloth but covered under
the very fabric of glory.
Robert
Browne’s “Funeral Orator” imagines this piece not as a poem but as a eulogy to
be read over the athlete’s grave as a group of mourners lament his loss
(Browne, 134). This is better understood when considering that the first two
stanzas are written in narrative form, “The time you won your town the race, We
chaired you through the market-place; Man and boy stood cheering by…” (Smith,
75) which is also evocative of the Oral Tradition (in terms of telling
stories). However, this piece has a “…specific purpose, to persuade him [the athlete]
that he is better off dead” (Browne, 134). This is done in part through
metaphor, indicated by the phrase “…the road all runners run” which means life
and death, or as Housman uses it, as a similarity between running and dying
(Browne, 135) because after all, no matter how fast we run, we will all reach
the “finish line” one day. Now, the glory and praise aspect of Housman begins
with the words “Smart Lad” (Smith, 75). As Browne argues, the athlete is a
smart lad because he demonstrates a “cleverness in dying early and avoiding the
disadvantages of living too long” (Browne, 136). This is further cemented by
the symbols of the rose and the laurel so frequently referenced in the work;
the rose and laurel are both known to be beautiful but doomed to live short
lives. However, Housman is very blatantly equating the rose and the laurel to
the athlete; although both the rose and the athlete died quickly, they lived
beautiful lives so their death isn’t so much a loss as it is a triumph. And
there in turn he (the athlete) avoids the implicated sorrow of the line “And
the name died before the man” because as Browne states, an early death “…offers
an incentive to step over the threshold. He will be surrounded by admirers as
he was in the first scene; and his laurels…will be forever unwithered” (Browne,
137); unwithered because his record was never tarnished, nor was his name diminished
in his lifetime. He died a champion and the mourners will not be left mourning
a life wasted but a life of unfulfilled potential ended.
Browne makes
a lot of statements with regards to the nature of the poem itself; however, his
claims are further validated by E. Christian Kopff’s piece, “Conservatism and
Creativity.” Whereas Browne focused solely on Housman’s work as a guideline,
Kopff focused on the man to find reason behind the text. “[The] enduring theme
of Housman’s poetry and scholarly prose, is that there is an objective world,
which must be lived in despite the fact that it does not answer to human
desires, may give a clue to the unity of his life’s work” (Kopff, 231). It can
thus be argued that a characteristic human desire is accomplishment or success
and as such, the world cannot bend privy the desire of athletes in that
eventually, someone will come along and shatter all that you have created
through years of training, in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it stands to
reason why Housman would praise an athlete dying young; “If a man…after his
death, is still remembered [as] a great man, there is a presumption in his
favor which no living man can claim” (Kopff, 232). That sentence was taken from
Housman’s 1911 Cambridge Inaugural in which is also stated about the “…lack of
due veneration towards the dead” (Kopff, 232). Both of these lines therefore validate
the central argument presented here; the “due veneration” is addressed in the
praise bestowed upon the young athlete’s “choice” to die young, and the “presumption”
is that although the athlete’s record may one day be broken, it was not broken
in his lifetime and as such, he died before his name which as stated by
Housman, is something no one can ever take from him.
“To an
Athlete Dying Young” is therefore not so much melancholy as it is celebration.
We, as readers are among the mourners and although our society now tends to
lament and to treat the death of one so young (and so successful) as a great
loss, Housman would argue otherwise. Housman felt that the “pleasure of the
moment is the sole motive for human action” (Kopff, 236) and whether we are
racing, or writing or building, ultimately we all derive pleasure from the very
moments that life gives us; and while none of us may be willing to concede to
the tomb just yet, Housman reflects on the sentiment that death isn’t necessarily
an unhappy ending but rather a celebration of a life lived in the pleasure of
the moment; a moment that is now enduring beyond our lifetime.
Works Cited
Browne, Robert
M. "The Shropshire Lad as Funeral Orator." Quarterly Journal of
Speech, 57.2 (1971): 134-139. Electronic.
Kopff, E
Christian. "Conservatism and Creativity in A.E. Housman." Modern
Age, 47.3 (2005): 229. Electronic.
Smith,
Phillip. 100 Best Loved Poems. New
York. Dover. 1995. Print.
