Lamb's Progression from Youth to Old Age

Lamb's transition from his professional life to retirement, especially as he exhibits it in "The Superannuated Man," can be understood through the analogy of his perception of Sundays. When he is employed, Lamb almost feels guilty about attending worship services, as they occupy a large part of his only day off. He does not dislike the religious institutions, to be sure, but merely recognizes that they are "the very worst adapted for days of unbending and recreation" (802). He is completely distracted from his spiritual life, and far too immersed in his occupation to have time to reflect. During his retirement, on the other hand, he "can spare to go to church now, without grudging the huge cantle which it used to seem to cut out of the holyday" (805). Just as he is now able to worship more frequently, he can also spare the time to be content with his career and know that he had "done all that I came into this world to do."

This progression is mirrored in "The Old Familiar Faces," published a few years earlier, in which Lamb records the distinct phases of his life. The first stanza involves his early childhood and his mother's death, then his "joyful school-days", next an adolescent stage, then his early adulthood, middle-age, and lastly his old age. Although the events that characterize these phases are very different, they all have a theme of loss in common. This becomes most pronounced in the sixth stanza when Lamb reflects on "the haunts of [his] childhood," and the progression that had since been clearly linear now regresses to his youth of the first stanza (800). Though it is presented as less of a necessity as in "Superannuated Man," he only gets the chance to reflect on his life once he has aged enough to crave a retrospective view.