Athlete Dying Young

Riddled with insouciance, haughtiness, and patronization, the author’s diction divulges the pompous outlook of the narrator. For instance, the onlooker continually mocks the “spectacle” of the funeral that he describes as one he “[would] have been sorry to miss.” Rather than expressing pity for the loss of an honorable man, he is instead merely concerned

Whether a love poem, or a death poem, poetry is always composed with a specific task in mind the author is attempting to accomplish. The task may range from admiring someone or something, or even commenting upon the ills of society, but nevertheless, poetry is always written with the intent of delivering a powerful and meaningful message. Such is the case with the two poems, “Homage to My Hips” and “To an Athlete Dying Young.” Each poem utilizes certain elements differently such as symbolism, the topics of love and death, and emotional connection to bring the reader’s attention to significant societal issues, and illustrate the affect those issues have upon those in society. These poems are similar in that they both celebrate some aspect of

In the poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Housman and in the article, "Excerpt from OTL: Michael Jordan Has Not Left the Building" by Wright Thompson, both writers advert to athletes such as Michael Jordan to suggest that those who live a long life of accomplishments will remain in the public's memories. Housman and Thompson suggest this because of how those who support the athlete are described once the athlete is out of the game and how the athlete's life is predicted.

Unbroken, is a story about Louis Zamperini who has has survived many war battles. Louis has gone to war and survived, then was called back to keep fighting; however, this time, their plane crashed, and he landed in the middle of the ocean on a raft he had with him. Throughout all of this, Louis was brave and resilient to be able to stay alive in the ocean for 40 days. In Unbroken, by Hillenbrand, Louis had fought to stay alive after a rough patch in his life, and shows the audience that overcoming obstacles makes people better and stronger in the end.

In John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player” the poet uses literary devices to depict the existing way of life of a once-famous sportsperson. Flick Webb was in before times a gifted athlete on his high school basketball team, and he was commendable of much awe. However, Flick never acquired any other skills to prepare him for a future. Accordingly, he now is locked into an unskilled job and his former glories have pale to all but Flick himself. Updike has created a character that is at this point in time going nowhere and spends most of his time thinking about his former days of glory. Flick dwells more restricted by the past than the present because the past was much brighter for him. Flick’s emotional retreat into his earlier period is exposed

John Updike poem “The Ex-Basketball player” is a form free verse poem written in third person narrator about a young man, Flick Webb who still lives in his past rather than moving forward in his life. Flick Webb who was once a great basketball player during his high school years but now he just “sells gas, checks oil, and changes flats.” Flick is an indeed example towards high school students of what not to be. A person should not cling to one important memory in one’s life but should move further and be capable of doing something beyond. Flick Webb in this poem is a role model, especially teenagers, of what not to end up like. Updike uses certain figurative language effectively to lead the reader through Flick’s life- principal road in town that decides his future, lowly job and his menial habits.

The multifaceted nature of the human condition encompasses all aspects of human life at both an individual and collective level and delves into the notion of humanity and the values it comprises. Gwen Harwood’s poems’ “Father and Child” and “Mother who gave me life,” and Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” (1998), explore the dynamic and often contradictory nature of the human condition. Harwood portrays the transience of time and inescapable truth of mortality, illustrating the ever changing complexion of the human experience. Whereas, Jackson examines the capability of all humans to be violent and cruel while questioning whether such tendencies can be masked by a constrictive society’s heartless ideals.

acts that involve a variety of individuals, animals, and props. One quintessential aspect of the circus is the juggler. Not only does a juggler juggle balls, they juggle bowling pins, sharp objects, fire, etc., while still trying to keep the audience engaged and intrigued. In Richard Wilbur’s poem, “The Juggler,” Wilbur describes a juggler through the use of poetic elements all the while revealing details about the speaker.

The poem “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan is to make the readers understand that there is hope for the ones who got, or even get bullied in school. Bullying happens every day in a regular school day and probably not on school days. “So we grew up believing that no one would ever fall in love with us, that we’d be lonely, forever.” (Line 23) The poet explains how by the countless names that the bullied endured, he thought no one could ever properly love the mistreated. “He tried to kill himself in grade ten when a kid who could still go home to mom and dad had the audacity to tell him; / Get over it.” (lines 54-56)

The literary device that seems ubiquitous in this poem is alliteration. The first one found in lines 633-634, “ still brave, still strong/And with his shield at his side, and a mail shirt on his breast.” The “S” sound is repeated. Another example of alliteration shown is on lines 717-718. “He meant to kill/This monster himself, our mighty king,...” It’s a very faint “M” sound.

“Execution” by Edward Hirsch is about an adult recollecting his thoughts about his high school football career and especially how his coach inspired him because his authoritative role model was battling cancer. The speaker talks about the coach’s goal for “perfect execution” and the infinite strategies the coach would draw up in order to reach his goal. The speaker concludes with their team’s loss against “the downstate team” and how they were ironically defeated by “perfect execution.” A superficial reader might assume that the poem was about the disappointing results that came from his team working hard to reach a goal, but the author’s use of impersonal tone and irony in the fact that their team’s loss is caused by “perfect execution” shows how a strong force can be conquered even when putting your best foot forward when accepting a challenge.

Ready! Set! Go! As the elder referee fires the flare gun, the runners take off. Among the runners are several serious athletes, including Josiah, who are competing for the "Number One in the Nation" award. A serious award that not only would be a cool looking trophy, but a doorway to new beginnings. Beginnings such as being accepted into college for free, with scholarships, or being the first amputee runner to become the "All American Runner of the Year" award. All of these make Josiah want to come in first place even more, but competing at levels like this may be a challenge, especially for Josiah, the one-legged track star who lost his left leg in a car accident.

Captivity is defined as the state of being imprisoned or confined. A tragic experience is given a whole new perspective from Louise Erdrich 's poem, “Captivity”. Through descriptive imagery and a melancholic tone, we can see the poem and theme develop in her words. Erdrich takes a quote from Mary Rowlandson’s narrative about her imprisonment by the Native Americans and her response to this brings readers a different story based off of the epigraph. Louise Erdrich compiles various literary devices to convey her theme of sympathy, and her poem “Captivity” through specific and descriptive language brings a whole new meaning to Mary Rowlandson’s narrative.

Edgar Allan Poe’s work has been admired for centuries. One of his most famous works, The Raven is one many people gravitate towards. This 108 line poem consists of assonance and religious allusions to contrast many different types of religion including Christianity and Hellenism. This gives the audience an inside view on Poe’s religious views, or lack thereof.

Poems can be analyzed in various ways ranging from their complexity to the emotions they convey to readers. The poems, “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes and “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay will be analyzed based on their similarities and differences to name a few. The poems may describe different events; however the overall connection between the two can be identified by readers with deeper reading. Comparisons between the poems may easier to analyze and identify compared to the contrasts based on the reader’s perception. Overall, the concept and much more will reveal how the poems are connected and special in their own way.