"Up, lad, up, 'tis late for lying:
Hear the drums of morning play;
Hark, the empty highways crying
'Who'll beyond the hills away?"
"Reveille" is a poem based on the military tune played to wake the soldiers. This boy is sleeping late. The text is a gentle urge to awake and accomplish what the day has in store for him. As the highways call out, they urge him to adventure. The sentiment is that sleep, once served its purpose, can only hinder life and learning.
"Here by the labouring highway
With empty hands I stroll:
Sea-deep, till doomsday morning,
Lie lost my heart and soul."
This poem is written from the perspective of someone struggling with the weight of existence. The narrator is walking along the highway observing the busy people pass by him. Compared to the emptiness he feels within, the business of the people seems vain and cold. Is he jealous? More likely, he is lonely, so he determines to continue on his present, unfeeling course until the day of his death.
"Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose."
This poem is written as a tribute to a young athlete on his deathbed. The attitude is respectful, almost reverential. The author commends the boy on his impending death, as if the boy had chosen his fate for himself. Obviously a person older than the athlete, the narrator cautions against the temporal nature of success and youth. Since life flies by anyway, why not die young, while all is well and thus never see your life crumble around you?
"The stars have not dealt me the worst they could do:
My pleasures are plenty, my troubles are two.
But oh, my two troubles they reave me of rest,
The brains in my head and the heart in my breast."
The narrator of this poem is bemoaning his life. Grateful for abundant pleasures in life, he acknowledges that his situation could be much worse. Still, he feels overwhelmed by the pain in his mind and his heart. They prevent him from enjoying the good things around him. Overall, he does not seem to accept responsibility for the state of his inner life, blaming instead the fates.
