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To An Athlete Dying Young Rhetorical Devices

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“To an Athlete Dying Young,” the title is quick to attract the eyes of a person with an athletic interest. However, beneath the title lies a poem that possesses many components of a masterpiece that ultimately attracts more than the previously stated group of human beings. The man behind the “masterpiece,” A.E. Housman, was born in March of 1859. Growing up in England, Housman’s education was the least questionable attribute about him. It was his drive for greater knowledge that led him to seek more and ultimately compose the masterpiece of, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” which is a part of the novel A Shropshire Lad, also by Housman. Contrary to popular belief, the poem inhibits a puzzle composed of numerous rhetorical devices that illuminate the theme Housman implants. In, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” Housman utilizes rhetorical devices such as the rhetorical monologue, imagery, and an ironic tone to develop the theme that serves as a paradox to the negative connotation in which death is labeled. To begin the dissection of devices that are embedded in, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” Housman deploys the rhetorical monologue to proclaim the irony in the death of …show more content…

Housman, Housman uses rhetorical devices to uncover the theme of the poem to the readers. Rhetorical devices such as rhetorical monologue, imagery, and ironic tone, created by rhyme scheme, diction, and apathy all add to the general theme that is climaxed in the celebration of the young athlete’s death. Instead of the death seen as a sobering time, the same people that paraded the athlete in the streets after a victory, carry him to his death in the same manner. The irony is found in the fact that although the athlete dies, his legend and record lives forever. The athlete who at the peak of his career dies, and does not experience his own downfall. In such instance, Housman sees no sense in grievance. Housman sees a celebration of life in the death of a young

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