Athlete Dying Young and Ulysses

A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. In A.E. Housman’s poem To An Athlete Dying Young and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem Ulysses, both poems demonstrate two men who are the best at what they do whether it being a top athlete or battling against Gods. While Housman's poem uses iambic tetrameter and an aa bb rhyme scheme, Tennyson's Ulysses is styled as more of a monologue in blank verse. No matter what approach each poet uses, they both portray the central theme of each of their poems: the downfall of being a hero. The speaker in To An Athlete Dying Young discusses how that it's better that the athlete died now as a hero than having to live past his prime and be forgotten. Ulysses goes further with this idea and depicts Odysseus after his adventure having nothing to do. He is forced to deal with boredom and a lack of fame for the rest of his life. Each poem has similarities in themes and imagery; however, contrast in terms of poem structure and tone make these poems unique and more memorable.