The poem's overarching topic appears to be the contrast between the joyous days of the past and the painful and sorrowful days of the present. The poem is more of a description of all the things that the poet misses as an adult since he has been overloaded with the stresses of adulthood. These things include his school days when there were no horse races or football matches to watch and little need for money. There is also a sense of guilt in the poem because it seems like the narrator could have done something to prevent these sad events from happening. Other topics covered in the poem include: happiness, childhood, education, history, politics, religion, society, war. Hood wrote the poem while working on a new edition of Gray's Elegy. It was first published in 1827.