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“Wild Geese” is characterized by its earnest tone. When the speaker addresses us readers, they do so with a sincere desire to pass down meaningful wisdom that will help alleviate our troubles and improve our well-being. There is no trace of irony in the poem, and no sense that the speaker’s point of view is fundamentally flawed or problematic. Nor is there any suggestion that the speaker’s advice for us readers comes with an ulterior motive. The speaker has an earnest, even solemn desire to communicate their understanding of the natural world as a vast and healing refuge. That said, it’s possible that the speaker addresses the reader as a way of addressing themself. The speaker assumes that the readers, “Whoever you are” (line 14), are in the throes of some kind of emotional turmoil. But the speaker isn’t addressing a specific person. Instead, they’re speaking to an abstract and general reader that could, oddly enough, include themself. That is, they could be among those who need to hear the very message they are communicating. If we accept this possibility, then the poem takes on a more complex tone of earnestness tinged with melancholy.

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