Poem Analysis: To An Athlete Dying Young

“To An Athlete Dying Young” is about a close friend who died at a young age. A.E Housman uses a poem structure to express his emotions. The whole poem is about how he was carried to his grave and was shoulder high. Based upon that this would be considered non - fiction. The audience he is telling this poem to is to his close friend that dies, and is wanting others to see his emotions. It depends on the perspective that you have. You can think that it means that they celebrated him and the accomplishments that he did, like he just won a race. You could also think of it as he died and now they are upset, but are still celebrating his life. For example, in line six it states how the road runners brought him him shoulder high. I thought that this