These lines can associate the readers to imagine a picture of fear, tear, and shade. The picture that brings something horrifying, but for the subject of the poem is unafraid. The death is the thing who the subject is expecting and the death is described as a misery so he could fight against it. The human spirit is strong and can compete and resist all the extreme personal torment.
" The Horror of the shade" is a picture of death that is scary, frightening but he is ready to confront it. Death is misery because he wants to be brave when it comes to him.
Personally I didnt really get any validation growing up and had to do things mostly on my own if you arent hand held then you pick things up usefull things that help you progress further in the human world. yeah you may be sad from time to time but hey at least you have more skills than most.