Renée Chérie Clark in her essay, "A Critical Appraisal of Four Last Songs" suggests, citing a letter from the composer to a friend at Cornell University, that Vaughan Williams actually intended for "Menelaus" and "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" to be grouped together.
[2] The texts of all four songs are poems written by Vaughan Williams' wife Ursula who penned several books of poetry throughout her lifetime as well as a biography of her late husband.
"Procris" and "Menelaus" deal with figures from ancient Greek and Roman mythology and epic poetry while "Tired" and "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" depict images of love between a husband and wife.
One day, after Vaughan Williams and his wife had been reading from T. E. Lawrence's translation of Homer's The Odyssey, Ursula felt compelled to write some verse.
Together with his brother Agamemnon, fellow ruler Odysseus, and other warriors, Menelaus launched the Trojan War to regain his wife and return her to Sparta.
[citation needed] The opening measure contains three groups of descending and ascending 32nd notes that suggest the playing of a harp or lyre, which evokes an image of ancient story telling and music-making.
The speaker implores her hands to "give him all the measure of my love", her eyes to "be deep pools of truth", and her heart to "in his keeping, be at rest and live".
In 2013, Anthony Payne orchestrated all four of the songs; the work premiered on 4 September 2013 for the BBC Proms with Osmo Vänskä conducting, soprano Ruby Hughes and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston.