The poem centre on humanity and human nature . When the poet see the figures , he want to know their names and lament his ignorance . Eventually , he realize that they are representative of Love , Ambition , and Poetry . While he long , he fear they are out of reach and therefore try to reject them . He argue that love is what he need least and dismiss it by questioning what " love " actually mean ( " What is Love ? and where is it ? " ) . He reject ambition , but it require more work ( " And for that poor Ambition — it spring / From a man 's little heart 's short fever @-@ fit ; " ) . Unlike the personas of Love and Ambition , the narrator is unable to find a reason to banish Poesy ( Poetry ) , which reflect the poets ' inner conflict : should he abandon poetry to focus on a career in which he can earn a decent living ? Keats 's sought to write great poetry but feared his pursuit of literary prominence was based on a delusional view of his own merit as a poet . Further , he was incapable of completing his epic , " Hyperion " . As Walter Jackson Bate explain , to Keats " Neither a finished ' grand Poem ' nor even the semblance of a modest financial return seemed nearer . "