2. To an Athlete Dying Young Casildo Casillas Aqeel Mohamed Ivan Hernandez Joel Tinorio Jennifer Lopez By A.E. Housman

3. Biography Alfred Edward Housman was born in March 26, 1859 in Worcestershire. Housman was the eldest of seven children, and his mother died from cancer when he was just 12 years old. By age thirteen he became a deist, and a few years later became an atheist all his life. Housman’s brother Laurence and sister Clemence Housman also became writers. In 1877 he won a scholarship to St. John’s College, Oxford. For the next eleven years he worked as a clerk at a Patent Office. He studied Greek and Roman classics. During 1903-1930 he edited the works of Marcus Manilius.(first century Roman astronomer)

4. Biography At Oxford he fell in love with Moses Jackson. Housman was gay, but Jackson wasn’t. It is believed that Housman wrote Last Poems for Jackson, who read it before he died in 1922. Housman died on April 30, 1936, in Cambridge, England. Housman was buried in Ludlow, England. His works were not forgotten after his passing, a Housman Society was dedicated to him in England and dozens of composers, set his poems to their music. Houseman wrote the poem during World War 1 while young boys were leaving there youth at home, so young men were leaving there youth at home and to give life away at home.

5. Vocabulary Laurel – a tree or plant that was made into a wreath to crow the winners. Swell – to expand above the normal level. Fleet – to pass away swiftly; to disappear. Threshold – a piece of timber supporting a house wall. Lintel – the piece above a door that holds the structure above it. Rout – any overwhelming defeat. Withers – to fade, decay or to loose freshness.

6. Structure Contains 7 stanzas with 14 couplets. The rhyme scheme is AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH II JJ KK LL MM NN. The first two lines are an example of an Iambic Tetrameter because it has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Lines 13 and 14 are an example of trochaic tetrameter because it is stressed unstressed.

7. Figures of Speech (Alliteration) Line 1 – The time you won your town the race Line 5 – Road all runners Line 8 – Townsman of a stiller town Line 22 – fleet foot

8. Figures of Speech (Metaphors) Line 8: Stiller town – it is comparing a cemetery to a town Line 10: Fields where glory does not say – It compares glory to people who leave the field Line 13: Eyes the shady night has shut – Compares glory to night Line 19: Runners who renown outran – It compares the fame to an athlete

9. Figures of Speech Line 14 – silence sounds Synecdoche– Line 22: Fleet foot on the still of shade – Foot represents the entire body. Tone: sorrow or lamenting.

10. Positive words Line 1: won Line 2: chaired Line 3: cheering Line 11: laurel Line 19: renown Line 24: challenge cup Line 25: laurelled Line 27: unwither

11. Negative Words Line 9: slipped Line 10: glory does not stay Line 12: withers Line 13: night Line 14: cut Line 15: silence, worst Line 16: stopped Line 18: out of honor Line 20: died Line 21: fade Line 26: dead

12. Quiz! Good Luck Houseman’s mother died of _______ when he was ___ years old. Houseman stopped writing after _____ ______ died. The rhyme scheme of An Athlete Dying Young is A)AABB B)ABBA C)ABAB D)No rhyme scheme. How many couplets does the poem contain? Line 10: “From fields where glory does not stay,” is an example of what? Line 15 “Silence sounds” is an example of what ? What does the laurel symbolize? True or False: The poem is written in iambic pentameter. In line 12 the author states “Smart lad to slip betimes away.” What does that mean? Townsmen of a stiller form is comparing ______ to _____.