In the poem “As It Is,” the nar­ra­tor mus­es on his wish­es for a bet­ter world, one with kinder peo­ple, less greed, and soft­er views on the faults of oth­ers. Despite his long­ing for improve­ment, he accepts the world and its inhab­i­tants as they are, acknowl­edg­ing that life, with all its sor­row, bit­ter­ness, and pain, also brings joy, friend­ship, and love. He con­cludes that the world, in all its com­plex­i­ty, is ulti­mate­ly a place of more glad­ness than sor­row, sug­gest­ing an accep­tance of life’s imper­fec­tions and a deep­er under­stand­ing that things are arranged with a pur­pose beyond imme­di­ate under­stand­ing.

“A Boy’s Trib­ute” is a heart­warm­ing ode to the nar­ra­tor’s moth­er, whom he views as the epit­o­me of beau­ty, grace, and virtue, sur­pass­ing all oth­ers in his eyes. He describes his moth­er as an amal­ga­ma­tion of all desir­able qual­i­ties, unmatched by any oth­er he has seen, whether in beau­ty, grace, or kind-heart­ed­ness. Her nur­tur­ing, fun-lov­ing nature, and unmatched care make her irre­place­able and cher­ished above all oth­ers in his life. He ele­vates her to a near-divine sta­tus, sug­gest­ing that if there were ever an earth­ly rep­re­sen­ta­tion of an angel or a beloved fig­ure to a divine being, it would undoubt­ed­ly be his moth­er. Through sim­ple yet vivid imagery, the nar­ra­tor con­veys a uni­ver­sal love and admi­ra­tion for the mater­nal fig­ure in his life, high­light­ing her as a source of unwa­ver­ing sup­port and love.