The Figures

Symbol Analysis

There's something spooky going on here. In the first stanza, three ghostly figures appear to the speaker, and it takes him about six stanzas to get them to leave. In the meantime, he discovers a thing or two about who these figures actually are: some pretty big concepts, personified.

First, he describes their clothes in line 4: they wear "placid sandals" and "white robes." He says that the figures are dressed like Greek figures on an urn.

When they turn to face him, though, they are clearly timeless creatures. The first he recognizes "was a fair Maid, and Love her name" (34). Next comes Ambition, who looks pale and tired, but is "ever watchful with fatiguèd eye" (37).

Both figures are personified versions of actual qualities as they appear to the speaker. Love appears as an attractive young woman, one that might tempt him into a loving relationship. And Ambition is tiring, but never seems to sleep.

The third figure is Poesy (or poetry), a "maiden most unmeek" (38) who is described as a personal "demon" for the speaker. This figure, more than any other, tempts him. He is a poet, after all.

All three figures appear to the speaker four times before finally retreating "into the clouds" (60), having failed to tempt the speaker with their offerings of love, ambition, or poetry.

Adios, amigos.