The time you won your town the race / We chaired you through the market place
-- Speakers (Lines 1-2)

Importance: These lines that open “To an Athlete Dying Young” imply the central subject of Housman’s poem, the second-person “you” that refers to the titular athlete, and the first-person plural perspective of the poem’s speakers, “We.” Through having the opening lines reference the athlete and the speakers of the poem, Housman emphasizes the central relationship of the poem, the one that exists between the heroic athlete and his townspeople. As such, the poem already suggests an important aspect of its model of heroism – heroism generated not just through the triumph of a single individual, such as the athlete, but also the public witness of a community.

Shoulder-high we bring you home, / And set you at your threshold down, / Townsman of a stiller town
-- Speakers (Lines 6-8)

Importance: These lines simultaneously contrast and parallel the scenario depicted in the...