On First Looking Into Chapmans Homer(C.a) - 1169 Words

------------------------------------------------- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ------------------------------------------------- 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-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 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†¦show more content†¦As soon as he beheld the South Sea stretching in endless prospect below him, he fell on his knees, and lifting up his hands to Heaven, returned thanks to God, who had conducted him to a discovery so beneficial to his country, and so honourable to himself. His followers, observing his transports of joy, rushed forward to join in his wonder, exultation, and gratitude (Vol. III). John Keats simply remembered the image, rather than the actual historical facts. Charles Clarke noticed the error immediately, but Keats chose to leave it in, presumably because historical accuracy would have necessitated an unwanted extra syllable in the line. In retrospect, Homer s pure serene has prepared the reader for the Pacific, and so the analogy now expressed in the simile that identifies the wide expanse of Homer s demesne with the vast Pacific, which stuns its discoverers into silence, is felt to be the more just. Keats altered wondr ing eyes (in the original manuscript) to eagle eyes, and Yet could I never judge what Men could mean (which was the seventh line even in the first publication in The Examiner) to Yet did I never breathe its pure serene. ------------------------------------------------- Structure This poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, or can be known as an Italian sonnet, divided into an octave and a sestet, with a rhyme scheme of a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a-c-d-c-d-c-d. After the main idea