One issue I haven't noticed anyone mention in any of the threads here is the "scrub a kitchen pavement" passage in the first stanza. It may be an unfair response on my part, but I'm so put off by this passage that it's hard for the speaker of the poem to regain credibility in my eyes (and ears). I can't help wanting to respond, "Come on, we poets may work hard, but don't tell me it's harder work than the old pauper breaking stones!"

Robert Thomas, someone did mention this passage and proposed the poem is a kind of mock heroic. Wish I could help you out by remembering which thread that comment is located in.