Ulysses and To an Athlete Dying Young

The two poems, Ulysses and To an Athlete Dying Young, both have the theme of time, however, the ways they both address the theme are different. In To an Athlete Dying Young, time is lost by a young athletes life being cut too short. Ulysses is about a man whose life is too long and he longs for the a past. To an athlete dying young addresses how dying young has a positive side being that the boy dies with glory. He still holds his records and he dies a very successful young man. The athlete will never have to experience failure or someone else breaking his record. He dies happy and satisfied. On the other hand, Odysseus looks back on his past and wishes he could be young again and go back to his days of great achievements and strength. His life is dragging on and he's tired of sitting around waiting to die. Another difference is that the poem of the athlete is written in 2nd person and Ulysses is written in 1st person. The athlete uses more formal diction than Ulysses. The poems can seem very similar as they both talk of time and the toll its taken on their lives however the poems are contrasted by their differing predicaments being that the athlete lives too short and odysseus lives too long.