Summary

“To an Athlete Dying Young” opens with speakers remembering a scene of victory for the athlete and Shropshire. Because the athlete “won your town the race / We chaired you through the market-place” (1-2). This victory was highly publicized: “Man and boy stood cheering by, / And home we brought you shoulder-high” (3-4). However, immediately following these scenes of victory and glory for the athlete and Shropshire, the second stanza immediately transitions to the more tragic circumstances of “Today,” in which everyone gathers for the athlete’s funeral. Yet even in these sad times, the funeral procession and rites bear an eerie similarity to the athlete’s march of victory. Though everything takes place in a “stiller town,” there is a similar sense of collectivized homecoming, in which “Shoulder-high we bring you home, / And set you at your threshold down” (6-8).

In the third stanza, the...