Through greatness one must die to be remembered as a legend. The poem allows Death to voice that he doesn't reflect gory, but glory. Death speaks of the runner as a champion, but justifies that in life; victors fade and become meaningless in the eyes of the masses: So set, before the echoes fade, the fleet foot on the sill of shade. Death was able to set the runner free before he would face humiliation of witnessing his prestige fade
However, the runner in “To an Athlete Dying Young” dies at a young age even though his fame does not: while in “Ex-Basketball Player” the ex- player’s fame washes away in his growing of age. There are many similarities in these two poems. In “To an Athlete Dying Young” and “Ex-Basketball Player”, the men were famous whenever they were young because of sports. In an excerpt of, “To an Athlete Dying Young,” it states, “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” (Housman).
But often we had no choice, and became heroes with glory, who were somehow able to conjure up a strength superior to the enemy’s. We no longer fought for Hitler or for National Socialism, or for the Third Reich—or even for our fiancées or mothers or families trapped in bomb ravaged towns. We fought from simple fear, which was our motivation power. The idea of death, even when accepted it, made us howl with powerless rage. We fought for reasons which are perhaps shameful, but are, in the end stronger than any doctrine.
East of Eden – Chapters 34-39 Chapter 34 - The Question Good vs. Evil? The narrator says that people can be measured by the world’s reaction to their deaths. Recalling one man who made a fortune on the backs of others but then attempted to make it up later by becoming a philanthropist; people took that man’s death with quiet relief. Unlike another man he remembers ,who had always been immoral, manipulating others under the pretense of virtue; so people greeted his death with joy.
I don’t believe a word Pericles says about Athens in the Funeral Pericles “the first Athenian citizen” is blinded by power. he has so much power that he see his state as the best most perfect state ever when really there was many flaws that he could not see like the average man. Pericles thinks of Athens as if it was the best place on earth, it is flawless to him, but it’s too unrealistic. I don’t agree with Percale because he is writing in a time of grief after many men have died for Athens, and he wants to encourage people, heal the people. He wants people to feel good about them.
Gatsby’s heroism in the war, determination in the pursuit of his dreams, and his tenacious devotion to the love of Daisy forms Nick’s final opinion which leads him to give him the compliment. From all the events portrayed through the eyes of Nick in this novel, and after the death of Jay Gatsby, Nick states “Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness…” Nick characterizes them by asserting that they are careless people who end up retreating back to their money and to the safety of their relationship after having their “good time”. After reading and looking back through specific parts of the novel and, as well, coming up with my personal conclusions; I must agree with the judgment to which Nick had made most frankly clear. Nick insists, by using the term ‘smashed’, that Daisy and Tom destroyed countless lives
Dear America challenges the assumptions of mainstream America about the war. Allen Paul illustrates in a letter to a woman his first experience of war by stating “…it sure was an ugly sight.” This enforces the falsity of the assumption made by mainstream America about the war being easy and painless. The brutality of war is further recognised when George Olsen describes in his letter a wounded soldier momentarily dying being resuscitated by stating “...in a way, he was the luckiest one out there” purely because his injuries resulted in him returning home. Mainstream America assumed the war to be quick, easy and painless; when for the soldiers it was a long, hard and painful experience that only other combatants would
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes it may have adverse consequences. For example, Jay Gatsby ended up wasting about a fifth of his life chasing his one true love, only to die a tragic, young death. VI. Personification: Page 1: "The abnormal mind is quick to detect and to attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person..." * The author is giving the mind human abilities to detect and attach itself to something. Paradox: Page 37: "And I like large parties.
In his quest he learned the true meaning of running and life, in which love takes a big part of. As humans “We run when we’re scared, we run when we’re ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time. And when things look worst, we run the most” (Page 11). Running is part of our everyday life. We run for two reasons: fear and pleasure, while the Tarahumara solely run for the love of the sport.
This poem is specifically about the death of a soldier and the notification of that death to his family. This is the reality of war. The word "anthem" has a few different meanings, the one that seems to be the most pertinent to this poem is: an unusually rousing popular song that typifies or is identified with a particular subculture, movement, or point of view. Soldiers of WWI would definitely identify with this poem; no one else (i.e. civilians) could understand everything that they went through during the war.