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.
Commentary
the first ‘famous’ poem that i’m sending…
from ‘Poems’, 1817
This is easily one of the two most beautifully evocative poems I’ve ever read, the other one being Coleridge’s ‘Kublai Khan’ . It’s no coincidence that both poems were written within a few years of each other, by poets who would come to symbolize their time: the Romantic Revolution of the early 18th century occasioned a paradigm shift in the theory of poetic expression, and the Romantic poets (Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Wordsworth, among others) consciously strove to express their innermost feelings through their verse. And although I don’t care much for the Romantics per se, I have to admit that I’m deeply moved by the best of their verse.
Coming back to today’s poem… Keats was (even among the Romantics) acknowledged to be the master of the evocative phrase; much of his poetry is as pure as music. Not for him the metaphysics of Shelley, the lushness of Byron, the down-to-earth genius of Wordsworth, or the flights of fancy of Coleridge: Keats was a poet in the purest sense of the word - a minstrel of the emotions.
‘On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer’ - well, I think that every single phrase of this poem is as close to perfection as it’s possible to get. The very last line is simply sublime. I can say no more.
— Thomas
PS. One of these days I’ll write and send an essay on various movements in the history of poetry - ie, the metaphysical poets, the romantics, the imagists, the beats… just give me time, give me time.
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
SURENDRANATHC · 21 February 1999
hi,
one famous blooper, it was not ‘stout’ Cortez but Balboa…. In all possibility, Hernan Cortez never saw the Pacific……
Janell921 · 21 March 2001
It is not a blooper that Keats choose to use Cortez rather than balboa. For it is a juxtaposition to Chapman’s translation of Homer. He discovers the wonder of Homer
through Chapman, whom he gives credit, though he only translates Homer’s work.
David Jordan · 14 August 2001
Curious that Keats should mistake Cortez for Balboa. Cortez conquered Mexico and his name could evoke his first view of the beautiful, sprawling, ancient kingdom of the Aztecs, which would compare with a first view of the civilisation which Homer describes. Also, like Odysseus, Cortez was both a warrior and an explorer and, it seems, a man of ingenuity and winding fortune.
Anyone looking to discover Homer should first view this gem. DJ.
Steve Chernicoff · 1 June 2002
A superb poem, of course–justly one of the most renowned and admired of English sonnets.
The funny thing is, I have had literally the same experience as Keats. Like many people, I was subjected to the Odyssey in high school in a deadly dull, stilted, wooden prose translation. It wasn’t until years later, when I discovered the wonderful free-verse translation by Robert Fitzgerald, that I first came to breathe the pure serene of Homer’s original. Then felt I like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken…on first looking into Fitzgerald’s Homer.
One detail worth pointing out in Keats’s sonnet is “deep-browed Homer”–a Homeresque epithet in itself, like “grey-eyed Athena” or “ox-eyed Hera” or “rosy-fingered dawn” or “the wine-dark sea.”
Mike Offer · 9 October 2002
“Then felt I like some watcher of the skies” not “I felt”. Pedantic, but true.
Keith Cochran · 28 February 2003
My friend in poetry,
I am a mere English teacher. I consider Keats’ “…Chapman’s Homer” in my AP classes. I have noted the historical discrepancy in the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. My students and I have two questions: Why did Keats select Cortez? Why, other than the rhyme scheme, did he select Darien? Keats surely had something in mind, but I cannot locate a satisfactory allusion. Thanks for your time with a most wonderful poet. Respectfully,
Keith Cochran
Dallas, TX
Jo Hanslip · 4 July 2003
He probably selected Darien with reference to the area of Panama where a number of Scots tried to set up a new home, in a scheme which bankrupted Scotland - half the capital of Scotland was sunk into it in, I think, the seventeenth century, but the Scottish emigrants died of fever, starvation and the Spanish. There is still a place in the area of Darien called Punta Escosa. Darien must still have been infamous at the time of the poem.
Bob Krieckhaus · 18 November 2005
I’ve always imagined Cortez and his men thought they were going to find India. OK, not historical. So they thought they’d see some lovely valley vista or another, maybe a range of mountains beyond even these they were climbing. But No, the whole, endless watery expanse of the Pacific. Oh.
Phil Estrin · 23 May 2007
This poem is indeed sublime, though my favorite Keats poem is “Ode to Autumn.” Another supreme work of art regarding someone being inspired by Homer is Rembrandt’s “Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer.” As for the comment by the person who was first exposed to a dreary translation of Homer’s work in school, how unfortunate it is that the Western canon is taught in such off-putting ways! The canon, with both its wisdom and folly, is a universal treasure that should ignite our spirits.
Joey Terzi · 10 August 2007
Anyone ever notice the rhyme scheme of the first 8 lines, the octate of the poem.
Line 1,4,5, and 8 and rhyme with each other as do 2,3,6,7? Is it a known fact that this rhyme scheme is matched with the consonance and dissonance of the musical scale,
where the 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th or octave are the perfect intervals and 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th are the so called imperfect intervals?