Great Regulars: The narrator of this mysterious incident

then allows the reader to glimpse behind the closed door what the traveler cannot see. The reader is informed, "only a host of phantom listeners/That dwelt in the house then/Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight." The listeners do not seem to be flesh and blood human beings, but mere ghosts who simply stand "listening" "To that voice from the world of men."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: De la Mare's The Listeners

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When all of these thoughts of his life ending before he has had to opportunity to achieve his goals, he continues to "think" until he is able to realize that "Love and Fame" are nothing. He realizes that he is alone in this world, and true love is not possible here for it inevitably ends through separation and/or death. And fame, he realizes, is evanescent as well.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Keats' When I have fears that I may cease to be

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They would defy "danger" for just a crumb of his attention.

Now they "range" or run wildly about searching for attention in other places, probably from other men. The speaker is working to cover his resentment by noting the changes in these women's behavior, and he, thus, paints them as somewhat psychologically unbalanced in their vacillation of feeling for the speaker.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Wyatt's They Flee From Me

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