"To an Athlete Dying Young".Tell one or more specific reasons given in stanzas 3 through 7 that the boy is a "smart lad" (line 9) to die while still young. What do you think of that positive tone toward death?

The speaker in the poem offers the idea that there is benefit in dying in one's prime as an athlete. In the lines "And early though the laurel grows / It withers quicker than the rose," the speaker observes that laurel, signifying victory, does not endure. Other accomplished athletes will always follow on the heels of the victors, so going out at the top of one's game, so to speak, will in a sense preserve that victory for all time.
The speaker suggests that the fame and renown of the celebrated athlete will travel intact to the next world, where "...round that early-laurelled head / Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead." The departed souls who will greet the deceased athlete will gather around to offer their admiration.
The poem poses a worthy question: is it better to leave life at the height of one's abilities and be remembered for that? Or is it better to have had one's moment, left fame behind, and lived on, perhaps in obscurity? The value of fame and one's legacy is the issue to consider in Houseman's poem.