On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer [sonnet]

________________________________________________
Title:     On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer [sonnet]
Author: John Keats [More Titles by Keats]

Much have I traveled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific--and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

[The end]
John Keats's poem: On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer [sonnet]

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN