Belated response but I agree about the breaking open and heartfelt quality of the ending. I do find it moving if somewhat (forgive me) "On Golden Pondish." I can also see the mock-heroic interpretation of the first half of the poem, but I have a hard time accepting that. I just don't see much evidence for it IN the poem. It seems to me that readers who read the conversation as "mock" are basing that interpretation on their belief that "Surely one of the greatest, most profound poets ever to live couldn't simultaneously be such a doofus as to be sincere when he says XYZ," but yes, he could--that's the paradox of art. The question seems to be whether the turn between the emotion of the beginning and the emotion of the end of the poem is a sharp turn or only a gentle bend, and I read it as a gentle bend. I don't see the speaker at the end of the poem rejecting what he said earlier in the conversation, merely shifting to a different level.