Death is imminent. There is no escape. However, the view someone has on the subject can drastically affect the ever-approaching darkness. When A.E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" were written, some ideas were meant to be shown and certain thoughts strove to be communicated. A poem is more than just a sequence of words. A poem is a medium through which the poet expresses his opinion and shares his beliefs. You can learn a great deal about a particular author simply by studying his or her works. Although the poems of Dylan Thomas and A. E. Housman are both similar in that they deal with the controversial topic of death, a closer evaluation will distinguish many opposing traits between the two poets. The poems are the most different in the main structure of the poem, in the two poets' views on life, and in their ideas about what defines a person. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin, you need to analyze the main structure of these two poems. While it is obvious that death is the main focal point, the way the authors present the themes is one of the main differences between the two. In “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Housman, the main character of the poem is a young local hero who recently died. The hero achieved fame as a runner and, at the time of his death, was glorious. The narrator is assumed to be Housman, who serves as a citizen mourner, in a small English town during the burial of the athlete (Cummings). Although it mentions members of the city, the poem focuses entirely on one individual. The poem consists of seven stanzas, each containing four lines. Because of the internal structure and appearance of mourning and accepting death, "To An Athlete Dying Young" has been designated as an elegy (Cummings). In contrast, Dylan Thomas's poetry is classified as villanelle (“Literary Analysis”). It has six stanzas, the first five contain three lines and the last contains four. Thomas structured his poem in what appears to be three parts: an introduction, examples of the ideas conveyed, followed by a personal section perhaps concerning Thomas's father (“Analysis of the Poem”). The play is narrated by Dylan Thomas and shows four different types of individuals and how they deal with the idea of ​​impending death. After having studied the obvious structural aspects of the poem, we can dedicate ourselves to a more in-depth examination. Both authors discuss impending death and the life that preceded it. AE Housman mainly focused on the idea that life without its own glory is almost useless. In his poem "To an athlete who dies young", he writes "Clever boy, to run away soon / From the fields where the glory does not remain", (9-10). In this case the athlete benefited from death because it protected him from the disappointment of seeing his glory fade. A theme a reader may observe while reading this poem is "quit while you're ahead": it's better to die young than see the glory fade. The very idea of ​​dying young and victorious shows how Housman views life. He thinks there can be nothing after achieving greatness. One can assume that he believes that once an athlete has reached the top, there is nowhere left for him to go but down, and at that point death is the “smart” choice. Life should be judged by the quality of years lived rather than the quantity of years lived. Dylan Thomas, however, can strongly oppose Housman's main themes..