| A | B |
|---|
| Housman uses the image of quickly withering laurels to communicate the | rapid passing of the victories of youth |
| When the speaker mentions carrying the young man "shoulder-high," he is referring to | lifting the athlete after a victory and holding a coffin aloft |
| According to the speaker, the only people who admire the athlete now are | the dead |
| In lines 9-20, the speaker claims that the athlete is fortunate because | by dying young, he has avoided seeing his records broken and his fame fade |
| In the final stanza what point does the speaker make about the victory garland? | The athlete having died young, will not live to see his victory garland wither |
| Which of the following statements best expresses an important meaning of this poem? | Glory lasts only while an athlete wins and no athlete continues to win forever. |
| What is "the road all runners come" (line 5) | Death |
| To be "townsman of a stiller town" (line 8) means to | be dead, lying in the graveyard |
| Which of the following statements is not true or couplets? | The couplet is a subgenre of poetry. |
| In "To an Athlete Dying Young," how are the couplets arranged? | Pairs of couplets are joined into four-line stanzas. |
| Which statement best describes the effect of the couplets on the rhythm of this poem? | They mimic the slow march of a funeral parade. |
| Housman probably chose to write this poem in couplets because | his couplets' strong rhythm matches his serious subject: death |
