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 an Italian Sonnet. Keats makes the mistake of claiming that it was Cortez who discovered the Pacific, when it was really Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

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