The title promises a success story, but the poem offers only four fragments, and they undercut it. The opening line, "eloquent lives I fear," reads two ways: the speaker may be afraid of people whose lives and words seem polished and confident, or afraid of becoming one of them. Either way, the line sets up a gap between the speaker and an educated, articulate world.
The three images that follow feel like pieces of a background. A college door suggests opportunity, but it is only a door, something to stand outside of or pass through nervously. "The herring poor" hints at a hard, thin existence, since herring is a cheap, humble food. The father's buckle is the most personal image, perhaps a belt, a sign of work, discipline, or even punishment. The poem doesn't say which, and that is part of its power.
The mood is tense and guarded. "Self-made" sounds proud, but the speaker seems uneasy about what was left behind and what was gained.