Thursday, September 12, 2019
Poetry analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Poetry analysis - Essay Example ot return his affections, the early death of his mother and the death of a second person close to him leading to the development of ââ¬Å"A Shropshire Ladâ⬠, ââ¬Å"a collection of sixty-three poems addressing the themes of unrequited love, the oblivion of death, and idealized military lifeâ⬠that carefully navigated around any issues of homosexuality. In addition, he is surprisingly consistent in his writing, showing nearly identical themes, forms and language usage in ââ¬Å"Last Poemsâ⬠as were used in ââ¬Å"A Shropshire Lad.â⬠However, his ââ¬Å"open investigations of the mysteries of death and the dual nature of humankind have earned him acknowledgment as a precursor to the development of modern poetryâ⬠(ââ¬Å"A.E. Housmanâ⬠, 2006). These attitudes about death can be most understood as they are expressed in the poems ââ¬Å"To An Athlete Dying Young,â⬠ââ¬Å"When I Was One and Twenty,â⬠ââ¬Å"With Rue My Heart is Ladenâ⬠and â â¬Å"Is My Team Ploughing?â⬠In ââ¬Å"To An Athlete Dying Youngâ⬠, Housman demonstrates a sensitive honor for the man who dies in his prime, invoking a powerful sense of regretful comprehension regarding the wisdom of dying young. He begins the poem with a nostalgic look back at the happy crowd carrying the star athlete around on a chair, everyone celebrating and having a good time. This nostalgia is established by the wistful ââ¬Å"The time you wonâ⬠(1) that immediately invokes a fog of memory around the edges of the scene described. The heroââ¬â¢s way is carefully invoked in the lines ââ¬Å"Man and boy stood cheering by, / And home we brought you shoulder-highâ⬠(3-4) to be carefully juxtaposed against the same phrase in the second stanza: ââ¬Å"Shoulder-high we bring you home, / And set you at your threshold downâ⬠(6-7). With only this slight change in language, Housman makes it clear that this is no longer a cheering crowd, they are not celebrating and, by distinguishing his fri end as ââ¬Å"Townsman of a stiller townâ⬠(8), he makes it obvious that this is a
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