On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

By John Keats 1795–1821 John Keats

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 star'd at the Pacific—and all his men

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

ABOUT THIS POEM

Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.

Poet John Keats 1795–1821

POET’S REGION England

SCHOOL / PERIOD Romantic

Subjects Seas, Rivers, & Streams, Activities, Nature, Arts & Sciences, Reading & Books, Travels & Journeys, Poetry & Poets

Poetic Terms Sonnet, Imagery, Allusion

More about this poem

John Keats was born in London, where he was raised by a merchant after both his parents died when he was a teenager. Before Keats’s tragically early death at age 25, he was already celebrated as one of the prominent Romantic poets. He produced some of the most memorable poems of his time, including “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and the epic “Hyperion.”

Continue reading this biography