Keats wrote in a letter: "I feel assured I should write from the mere yearning and fondness I have for the Beautiful even if my night's labours should be burnt every morning, and no eye ever shine upon them."
Yet, of course, Keats also wanted to be among the great poets of all time. But he wanted greatness for what he would have been doing anyway. He wasn't doing it for the greatness. I would say that this is true for most poets.
Of course poets would like their poems to evoke a reaction of some kind, but poets can be satisfied, at least to some extent, if they merely evoke a reaction in themselves when they read what they've written. And there are many possible reactions a given poem may trigger, but they are all subcategories of "I'm glad I read this poem."
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