glory doesnt fade

397 Words2 Pages
Throughout the generations there have been many pretty women. A few of the women for one reason or another have participated in beauty pageants, but as we know beauty is only skin deep. There is always the inevitable conclusion, though, that the beauty pageant winner must pass down her crown at the end of her reign; and her glory and memory fades. In contrast in “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Houseman and A Separate Peace by John Knowles there are the athletes mentioned by the poem’s speaker do not agree. The athletes believe that their glory does not fade. To be remembered for achievements and glory can be very important to athletes. An example of this belief is in the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young,” and upon carrying the athlete to the cemetery the speaker states, “From the fields where glory does not stay/ and early though the laurel grows/ it withers quicker than the rose” (Houseman 10-12). The speaker believes that the athlete is smart because he died in his prime. He is able to go to heaven wearing his laurels before his fame had died. In the novel A Separate Peace Gene does not want to see Finny’s glory fade even thought Finny can no longer be an athlete. He continues to try to remember his talented abilities. An example of this positive Long 2 remembrance is one afternoon when Gene is supposed to report to the crew house. “As I had to do whenever I glimpsed this river, I thought of Phineas. Not of the tree but of one of his favorite tricks, Phineas in exaltation, balancing on the prow of a canoe like a river god, his raised arm invoking the air to support him face transfigured, body a complex set of balances and compensations….” (Knowles 75). Gene remembers Phineas in his excellent physical form. Both the narrator and speaker believe that the glory of their athlete will not fade. Even though Phineas is hurt and eventually dies due to an
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