by John Keats (1795 - 1821)

On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
Language: English 
Much have I travelled 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-browed 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 Cortes when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific — and all his men
  Looked at each other with a wild surmise —
  Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Confirmed with The Book of the Sonnet, ed. by Leigh Hunt and S. Adams Lee, London, Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1867.

Note included in the above edition, line 12: “Stared” has been thought by some too violent, but it is precisely the word required by the occasion. The Spaniard was too original and ardent a man either to look, or to affect to look, coldly superior to it. His “eagle eyes” are from life, as may be seen by Titian’s portrait of him.


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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2020-04-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 113