Comment on tone

The book's overall tone is one of compassion and empathy. Rilke writes able to genuinely identify with the struggles of the Young Poet—there is the sense that he is speaking directly, not loftily or patronizingly, to the man asking for his help. This does not mean, however, that the book is entirely subjective in tone. While Rilke's observations seem fully and deeply grounded in personal experience, he writes in such a way as to suggest that these experiences, and the truths gleaned from an in-depth consideration of those experiences, are universal. In short, he writes subjectively, but with an objective, detached, contemplative quality. This blending of tonal quality gives the book a sense of dispassionate intimacy, of a carefully considered honesty that is perhaps the main reason why the book has become so popular with artists and non-artists alike.