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This poem uses the metaphor of a laurel, which grows early but "withers quicker than the rose." The title figure of this poem becomes a "Townsman of a stiller town" when he is set down at his threshold. That title figure is called smart to "slip betimes away / from fields where glory does not stay." The speaker recalls when the title person was carried home shoulder-high after he won his town the race, and he dies while he still defends the championship trophy. For 10 points—name this elegy on the death of a youthful runner, a poem by A.E. Housman.
This poem uses the metaphor of a laurel, which grows early but "withers quicker than the rose.
“{To An Athlete Dying Young}”