poised to surpass

[ian2]

The question is about "was poised to surpass his father". Does this sentence imply that the person has an intention to surpass his father, or is the sentence only objectively describing the situation in which he was in a postion to purpass his father?

Instead he would have been rememberedby those close to him as a competent and dutiful son with a promising career in the family art-dealing business. He was, in fact, poised to surpass his father and to come closer to living up to the much-esteemed van Gogh name.

[Tdol]

It means that he was the position to, but there could be an implication- what comes in the sentence before 'instead'?

[ian2]

It means that he was the position to, but there could be an implication- what comes in the sentence before 'instead'?

The following is the whole paragraph.


The image of Van Gogh as a disturbed and forsaken artist is so strong that one easily reads it back into his childhood and adolescence. But if Van Gogh had died at age twenty, no one would have connected him with failure or mental illness. Instead he would have been rememberedby those close to him as a competent and dutiful son with a promising career in the family art-dealing business. He was, in fact, poised to surpass his father and to come closer to living up to the much-esteemed van Gogh name.

[Tdol]

I don't see any intention or anything negative there; it's just the position he was in, which others didn't know.