We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.
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.
And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.
REACTION: The first thing I notice about this poem is the meter and simple rhyme that is carried through the poem. The subject matter is the next most noticeable. Through the choice of name and the apparent events happening, the reader can deduce that the athlete has died the day before his big race. The whole poem seems to just outline the reaction to the death of the athlete and what has come of his death.
PARAPHRASE: When you won your big race, the whole town celebrated you. Today, however, the racers return, and we are laying you to rest. The glory of athletes does not last forever. Most of the time it fades faster than it came. Now that you are dead, you cannot see or hear the accomplishments of the people after you. Now you are dead, and your name has died as well. A lesson to all: before your name dies because you do, step out of the fame and defend your title. Live your life apart from just the races.
SWIFTT:
-SW: When looking at the syntax and word spelling, the authors is almost instantly recognizable as English by the spelling of “honours.” When looking at the syntax alone, it is apparent that the author uses a strict structure, meter, and rhyme. The lines are all iambic tetrameter. Much of the structure of the sentence is based upon the meter and the rhyme scheme of aabb. The word choice in general seems to be very defined and proper when referring to these events.
-IF: The imagery used in this poem is very limited to the actual events, but used widely in metaphors. Because the author wants to portray more of an idea rather than an actual event, not many details are given for the reader to visualize. At the very beginning of the poem, the narrator tells the reader that the athlete is brought home shoulder-high. This sparks an imagery of the town welcoming back the athlete as a hero in a celebration. When conveying the length of glory, the author ties this to the withering of a rose in metaphor. This connects the fleeting flame to the fast death of a rose once it’s cut from the stem. In another metaphor, he connects the fleeting flame to an echo dying slowly.
-T: The tone of the poem is retrained and frank. The author refrains from mentioning who the athlete was or how they died. He only instructs the future to pay more attention to their lives. He states his subject in a clear, almost harsh way by comparing the death of the athlete who was forgotten even though he was celebrated during his life.
-T: The theme of this message is made very clear through the figurative language and tone of the poem. Fame is completely fleeting. The public will move on from a person as quickly as a flower or echo can die. Even though a person may be celebrated at one point, they are not permanently noticed. A person cannot just live for popularity. They must also live for themselves.
CONCLUSION: My first reaction was correct, but upon rereading the poem, the theme was clear. The author wrote this poem to instruct future people. The world of fame is not the only life that one should have. Even though this athlete was celebrated by the whole town, he was not remembered or mentioned after his death.
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