The two poems that this essay will be exploring are, ‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ written by A. E. Housman and ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ written by Samuel Johnson. The focal point of both of the poems is the topic of death. This essay will look closely at the similarities and differences between the two in terms of language, content and form. Whilst also ensuring to acknowledge the reasoning for these choices made by the authors and understanding the meanings behind the language used throughout. This will create a debate within the essay by comparing and contrasting the poems and focusing on the interesting aspects of each.
‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ is an elegy written by A. E. Housman that is centred around the theme of the comfort of death and a celebration of leaving a world of troubles behind. Housman has written the essay to the young athlete by using the personal pronouns ‘you’ and ‘your’ (line 1) throughout the poem, this makes the poem appear to be directly addressed to the young athlete. On the other hand, though the poem ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ written by Samuel Johnson is also an elegy and has a key theme highlighted on the topic of death it has a slightly more grieving tone to it whilst also celebrating life. Similarly, to Housman’s poem, Johnson also incorporates the notion of celebration. Housman shows that the young athlete is celebrated for his achievements and he is being held on people’s shoulders while being cheered at during his peak time of being young (line 4). The main concept of the poem is that to die being remembered and celebrated during one’s prime is better than to be forgotten about and eventually ignored by the people in the town. Whilst the main concept of Johnsons poem is to celebrate the life of Levet, much like a eulogy to his friend showing him respect and compassion for his work. An obvious difference between the two poems is that ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ is written about the person whereas in ‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ is written directly to the person that the poem is about. (259 words)
It can be understood that Levet was a friend of Johnsons by the language used such as ‘friendless name the friend’ (line 8) and ‘Affection’s eye’ (line 9) which would suggest that Johnson is emotionally affected by the death of Levet. This could be why he chose to write the poem about Levet rather than to him, in order to honour his friend and share what a wonderful person he was with the world. Johnson personifies abstractions such as ‘Arrogance’ (line 11) and ‘Anguish’ (line 19), he does this in order to give his poem life and connect with his audience. By personifying feelings, Johnson’s readers are able to relate due to the fact that these abstractions allow Johnson to successfully convey his meaning. Whilst in comparison, Housman writes to the athlete and praises him by saying, ‘smart lad, to slip betimes away’ (line 9). Essentially implying that he is clever for dying early because as stated in line 10 ‘from fields where glory does not stay’ technically means that glory will only last so long, so he may as well die while people remember him for his accomplishments.
The rhyme scheme of ‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ is AABB, creating an almost rhythmic feeling, much like a song. Even though the poem is about death there is something about the poem that sounds alive. There is a significant contrast between the song-like rhythm and the content within the poem, similarly this is echoed by showing the disparity between being young and death. The poem goes through a twist of emotions, from being cheerful and celebrating the life of the young athlete at the beginning to then becoming quite melancholic when the athlete dies. In comparison to “On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet” which is divided into nine four-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme of ABAB and an iambic tetrameter. This kind of rhyme scheme and form is quite traditional in English poetry, Johnson gives the poem a natural flow that makes the poem somewhat moving and in differently to Housman’s elegy. It does not sound like a song and shows Johnsons obligation to poetic tradition. Johnsons poem does not go through the same emotional twist as ‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ does, rather he seems to sway from the subject of Levet and instead talk about the bigger worldly things such as ‘Nature’ (line 13), which does not have the same effect on the readers. Even though ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ is about Levet and similar to a eulogy it seems to be less personal and more general, which allows the readers to relate emotionally more so than they can in Housman’s poem which is much more intimate to that one particular person (the athlete).
In the last stanza of ‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ there is an almost sinister tone, as it mentions that in line 26 ‘Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead’ in a sense it seems as though the dead are flocking to watch the athlete even though he’s dead and no longer has strength, much like the townspeople were gathering round him and cheering in the first stanza when he was still alive. Another example is from stanza four line 15 ‘And silence sounds no worse than cheers’ essentially saying that once one is dead then they don’t need to worry about not being cheered if they were alive, in other words, it’s best for him to die and not to be able to hear than to witness no one cheer in the future. In comparison, ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ has a very spiritual undertone for example Johnson uses terms such as ‘his virtues’ (line 25) and ‘freed his soul’ (line 36), these possibly suggest that Johnson was concerned with the idea of morality and being worthy. Whether this be in a religious sense, it is unknown, though, it could be understood that he felt as though Levet was undervalued in life and the work that he did, he did not want to draw notice to. For example, the quote ‘The power of art without the show’ would support the idea that Levet was underrated by the world for the work and compassion he had for his patients.
The second stanza is a mimic of the first stanza in terms of the athlete being carried ‘shoulder high’ (line 4), in the second paragraph this is where the young athlete is being carried in his funeral. It is a metaphor for death as Housman uses the phrase ‘we bring you home’ as he has gone through the path of life and now he is leaving earth to go to the land of the departed. Metaphors are popular in poetic style writing, Housman uses them in order to provide more complexity and depth in the poem that is on a very intense subject. It could be considered strange that Housman suggests that dying young is a positive aspect of life. Though, it is important to recognise that the elegy has an underlying meaning that is focussed around the idea of fame and the fact the young athlete lives in a fame-crazy society, this being a destructive aspect of life. The value that is placed on fame and dying young in order to maintain his status as an athlete within society is more important than living a long life. death, accomplishments and anguish, this allows them to relate and understand the lesson imbedded within the poem.
To conclude one of the main similarities in terms of content and language between the two poems is that they both have imperceptible lessons of life and the importance of living life and celebrating whether one dies young or old. To an Athlete Dying Young’ is about a young boy that dies early in his life, though he is highly recognised for his accomplishments within his short life span. In comparison to ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ which is about an older man that accomplished a lot in his life but was not recognised for it how Johnson believes he should have been. Maybe Housman is simply asking his readers whether fame really is significant when one is faced with death or whether it becomes meaningless to the person. The query in which Johnson is implying within his poem is that Levets story should teach his readers a lesson about morals. The poem consists of content based on concerns that most people will go through at some point in their lives.