An Athlete Dying Young

ENG 112: Annotated Bibliography of (potentially) Final Essay Sources

For this assignment, you need to obtain three academic sources that you are considering using in your Final Essay assignment.  These sources must be found through the library resources (catalog, databases, etc), and can either provide support for your argument, or counter your analysis argument (in which case, you will counter the source in your essay), or detail the lens you are using.

The source evaluation criteria and sample Annotated Bibliography (A.B.) – the handout from our class discussion – are attached to this assignment (see below).  Print this out and refer to it to guide you in composing your A.B.  Along with a correct MLA bibliographic entry for each source, your annotation for each source must contain:
a strong (1-2 sentence) summary of the source
an evaluation of the quality of the source (3/5 evaluation criteria)
The ideal scenario is that you find and evaluate three sources that you will (or may) use for your Final Essay, but this assignment is due before the Final Essay. So, if you cannot find the sources you will use for the essay assignment, it is acceptable to find three sources relevant to the primary text you are analyzing and making an argument on, and evaluate them.

Here is the thesis statement for this:

To an Athlete Dying Young
Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” poem explores how hurtful death could be to an individual particularly at a time when everything is going great. The poet explores the sudden demise of an athlete who had won a race that earned him a lot of regards in his hometown. The good things that the person has done and achieved in his life made it possible for others to remember him at all times (Housman line 10). Although death could quickly end a persons ability to achieve more success, it is his good actions and performance that help him leave a legacy that death can never shake or destroy.
The provided theme is arguable to a greater extent as it explores whether the death could truly harm a person’s legacy or not. First, from it, one could argue that death hurts the ability of a person to achieve more success as shown by Housman’s claim that “silence sounds no worse than cheers” (Housman line 15). This quote suggests that death has hindered the ability of the athlete to participate in the sport and make his fellow society members. The earth had stopped the ears is a quote that very much suggests that death had limited the ability of the athlete to engage in a game that he likes and uses it to spread his legacy. Thus, this theme could be used to argue the harm of death on an athlete and society at large.
Another argument that could be acquired from this theme is that death while hurtful it should serve as a reminder to people to create a legacy that would leave on long after they have left. The townspeople are seen to still remember the athlete even after his demise. Thus, the proposed theme is arguable and sufficient to explore Housman’s essay to a greater extent.