Creator and Destroyer of Legends

Time is an immutable element of existence. This certainty, concerning the matter of time, has been manifested in many noteworthy poetic works. The two poems “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman and “Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley use time as a means to communicate distinct themes involving the effect that time has on the concept of veneration and honor. Both poems appear to meet a consensus that time, especially the passing of time, has an immense effect on the identification of greatness. Alternatively, the messages of these poems are far different in that while “Ozymandias” focuses solely on the forgotten glory of the past, “To an Athlete Dying Young” focuses on the prestige, which has been frozen in time as the rest of the world progresses. Both poems outline their primary intentions through an indirect assessment of the effect that time has on the magnitude of precedence and virtue.