In the context of the poem as a whole, a complexity in the speaker’s character is revealed by the inconsistency between his stated desire to “spare my absent Friends the Grief” (line 25) and his Responses disappointment that he has no friends to grieve for or comfort him disappointment that he has no friends to grieve for or comfort him preference for professional mourners over heartfelt expressions of grief preference for professional mourners over heartfelt expressions of grief forgiveness toward friends who have been unkind to him in the past forgiveness toward friends who have been unkind to him in the past insistence that he desires only quiet solitude in his final days insistence that he desires only quiet solitude in his final days rejection of formal ceremonial rites at his funeral
