On first looking into Chapman's Homer
1795-1821
MUCH have I travell'd 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 stared at the Pacific--and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
DayPoems Poem No. 586
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/586.html">On first looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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