View source for On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer

"'''On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer'''" is a poem written by [[John Keats]], first published in 1816.  It is in the form of an [[Italian Sonnet]].  In the poem, Keats makes the mistake of claiming that it was [[Cortez]] who discovered the [[Pacific]], when it was really [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]]. 

  <big>On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer 
  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 never did I 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.
  -- John Keats</big>


[[Category:Poems]]
[[Category:English Literature]]