"What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?"
This poem is about the speaker's father, who did a lot for the speaker. The speaker didn't appreciate his father at the time, but now, he realizes how lucky he was to have a father that cared for him so much. Now, the father may be gone or the speaker may have a family of his own, and he understands how hard it is to love and care for someone. The rhetorical question emphasizes the feeling of remorse that the speaker feels because of how unappreciative he was.
I related most easily with this poem. It is difficult for students to understand what our parents are going through as they work to raise us because we haven't been there. We can't associate the events of their day to day lives to ours. Someday, however, we will, and only then will we really be able to appreciate everything they did for us. I think the speaker asked the rhetorical question to invoke that feeling in the reader.
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