Hardy's poem presents a mood of desolation and despair evoked by the symbolic ends of day, year, and century. His contrast between this desolation and the apparently unlimited joy of the thrush's song is the pivot the poem turns on. In the final stanza, the persona, momentarily overcome with wonderment at the joy of the thrush's song, wonders if the bird may know of some "blessed Hope," yet asserting reason over emotion, he concludes that the bird sings out of instinct and ultimately sees no cause for joy or hope "written" on the world around him. In the final line, he flatly states he's unaware of any such hope, yet it's apparent that the persona has a wistful wish that there were some reason for hope and wonderment at the mystery of the bird's joyous song.

Therefore, in the first two stanza he offers a troubled view of the world. In the third stanza, the bird's singing seems to represent hope, but in the final stanza, the persona accepts tragic reality. The poem is often regarded as an elegy for the nineteenth century.