At various stages of composition, the poem had several different endings. Critics do not agree about the merits of the differing versions. The poem now ends with the epitaph which sums up the poet's own life and beliefs. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy marked him for her own.
Many critics point out how the poem conveys so perfectly what others have always felt.
Its reflections on fame, obscurity, ambition, and destiny tend to sound as if they have always been written in stone. In many ways, the poem has become the representative poem of its age. It is still one of the most popular and best-loved poems in the English language.