In "Araby", what is the significance of the uncle quoting "The Arab's Farewell to His Steed"?

"Araby" is very much a story about disappointed hopes, letting go of childish fantasy, and learning that the world does not bend or change for one person's dreams.

In his attempt to get to Araby, the young boy meets with many delays that frustrate him in his desire to purchase something special for Mangan's sister, the girl with whom he believes himself to be in love.  The first of these delays is the lateness of...

"Araby" is very much a story about disappointed hopes, letting go of childish fantasy, and learning that the world does not bend or change for one person's dreams.

In his attempt to get to Araby, the young boy meets with many delays that frustrate him in his desire to purchase something special for Mangan's sister, the girl with whom he believes himself to be in love.  The first of these delays is the lateness of his uncle on whom he must wait to give him the money to go.  When his uncle finally arrives, he sits down to his dinner (another delay!) and the narrator must wait for several minutes before asking him for the money.  Even then, his uncle jokes that many people are already in bed.  He asks, again, where the narrator wants to go (more delays), and then asks if the boy knows the poem "The Arab's Farewell to his Steed."  

The connection of the story to the poem seems to lie in the frustrated hopes of the young narrators.  In the poem, an Arab boy is compelled to part with his beloved horse when the horse is sold.  It's quite a romantic poem, with lots of beautiful descriptions of the boy's fervent love for his wonderful horse, how he aches not to have to give the horse up and dreams of riding away from the new owner to be able to keep his horse forever.  Yet, in the end, the boy must give him up.  Likewise, in "Araby," the young narrator lives on his dreams and is only beginning to acknowledge the reality of a life that moves on without regard to his love, a life where "sordid" things like money are considered to be of much greater value and importance than fantasies and feelings.  The uncle, perhaps, has a sense that the narrator is at such a point in his life and has yet to realize the nature of the world.  And although the boy leaves before he can hear the poem and make that connection, he learns that harsh lesson in the end.