Ryan+and+Danesha

In A.E. Housman’s poem “To an athlete dying young” is a poem about a athlete who had it all and then they lost it. The poem say “Man and boy stood cheering by, and home we brought you shoulder-high”(Housman). Everyone in the town treated this person like they could do no wrong. To be the town hero a title that many think will never go away. Having everyone in the town love and respect them. They have a feeling like they were on top of the world. They were unstoppable, but what comes up must come down. When a teenage athlete is no longer needed they fall hard. Housman says “ So set, before its echoes fade, the fleet foot on the sill of shade, and hold to the low lintel up the still-defended challenge-cup”(Housman). This poem is a tragity about a young athlete who was on top of the world then they hit rock bottom. In the poem “To an athlete dying young” it represents Boobie Miles in his senior year when he injured his knee. In the beginning Boobie was the main focus of the team for Permian football and everyone was looking forward to his senior year. In the poem the Housman says “The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the market-place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high”(Husman). As the poem goes on it starts to talk about how the people are forgetting about the player in this case would be Boobie miles. In the book he injured his knee and everyone started to depend on the backup who was Chris Comer. In the five games that he played in he was averaging about 100 yards per game and was doing his job and not running away like Boobie would from a tackle. When Boobie would run the ball he would spin and juke the defenders and when comer had the ball he would run them over and the coaches liked that about him. They decided to give Boobie a white shirt which meant that he was a back up and he just fell apart. He did have some playing time through out the season like the game against Abilene High Eagles. He only had a few yards in the game and left with a leg injury and didn’t return to the game. The poem relates to Boobies Miles because Boobie was at the top of the world as one of the best in texas and then he got injured and was dropped off the face of the earth just like in the poem when the player or main character is suddenly just forgotten about and no one remembers who he is or what he did. -Danesha and Ryan