The poem opens with a question that sounds like a challenge: who could stay whole by being alone, avoiding every inner quarrel and every painful love? The speaker doubts that such a life is possible. Even in solitude the mind is full of "possible factions," small rival voices that argue with one another, so being alone doesn't bring peace.
The middle lines turn bleaker. If we spend our time "plundering for imperfections," picking at flaws in ourselves and others, then "we shall all be sunk." The image of sinking prepares for the last lines, where the sea appears as a symbol of the wider, riskier world. Once you have seen it, the speaker asks, who would stay at home?
The mood is restless and quietly urgent. The speaker seems to value the danger of love and experience over a safe, closed-off wholeness. The poem never answers its questions outright, which leaves a feeling of longing and a pull toward leaving.