The title "Advent", immediately introduces a religious motif - Advent being the four week period in the Catholic Church which immediately precedes Christmas. Advent is traditionally a period of penance and preparation of contrition and denial. In this poem, Kavanagh draws an analogy between the season of Advent and the nativity which follows and his own wish to rediscover the innocence and wonder of a child's mind. The theme has much in common with Vaughen's "…showed first 75 words of 817 total…

…showed last 75 words of 817 total…wish to regain the innocence of a child's mind is portrayed in a religious context. Kavanagh attributes the staleness and materialism of the adult world to original sin. The Advent, Christmas and the New Year will provide him with a means of recovering his lost innocence, he begins by confessing his sin, "we have tested and tasted too much", recognises that this sin has been responsible for the staleness with which he viewed the world.