The poem is not necessarily set in a particular place. Rather, the speaker encourages their listener to think through a number of different times and places in order to understand the power of human existence more broadly. These places are usually vast and intimidating, like "the night" and "this immeasurable darkness" (4-9). Many have interpreted these allusions to darkness as Rilke's nod toward the destruction ushered into the world by the First World War, which had ended only four years before Rilke was writing. This reading maintains that the speaker is commenting on the bleak transformation the world saw during the war, and encouraging their listener (all citizens) to make a turn inward in order to process these changes.