“Burning the Old Year” is a poem of vivid description which imparts an important lesson. As the speaker, Nye writes from personal experience, but it is a universal experience shared by the reader, as well. Even if the reader isn’t ritualistically burning items at the end of the year, whether during daily life or cleaning, it’s likely they will come across notes, letters, and lists they must decide whether to keep or throw out. Just as Nye describes in her poem, the reader must also choose each year what to keep and what throw away or “burn.”

The poem could be interpreted as confessional: Nye writes her emotions on paper. However, she chose to publish the poem knowing an audience would read it. The audience of the poem is anyone who reads it, and because the poem regards aspects of the human condition, it upholds the connection Nye creates with her poems and literature. The occasion of the poem is the dawning of the new year, which all readers experience. Nye burns unneeded articles of her previous year as she passes into the new one, discussing the spaces left open for new memories and notes in the new year.