The underlying tone of this Exeter Book elegy can be partially associated with apocalyptic ideas. The comparison of the world to an old man even suggests an apocalypticist view of the world, where the weakness of its old age is a
clear sign of its approaching end.
In the rest of the poem, the theme of transitoriness of all earthly things, especially man's life, is expanded by the idea of a heavenly reward as the only stable point to 'steer' towards, thus giving the poem an apocalyptic colouring.
