The poem does not have a literal physical setting. However, it is set in a particular period of time: the early spring. The poet begins the poem by describing a world that is "waking" from the slumber of the winter (2). The bare ground begins to be covered in new growth, accompanied with the sound of birdsong. Although spring is usually a time for new beginnings, here it brings with it a sense of hopelessness: the speaker knows it will change nothing in his unrequited love, and the only birdsong he hears is the mournful cry of the nightingale.