To an Athlete Dying Young Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

A.E. has some fun (fun?) with the ideas of home and hometown. In the case of the young athlete, he describes death as pretty much like moving into a new house in a new town, only you don't have to...

For Housman, the greenery does much more than just look nice in a vase or give you a really wicked, itchy rash. A.E. uses shrubs and flowers to symbolize things like victory, affection, and respect...

What do windows and doors have in common (besides often being rectangular)? Yup, they are places where we can enter or exit to another side. Housman uses lots of door and window imagery to emphasiz...

In "To an Athlete Dying Young," Housman uses shade and night as metaphors for death. Light often represents life and warmth. Night often represents the opposite. These metaphors help the speaker pr...