Friday, December 26, 2014

The first entry

“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”
By John Keats (1795–1821)
 
MUCH have I travelled 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        5
  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;        10
  Or like stout Cortes when with eagle eyes
He stared 1 at the Pacific—and all his men
  Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
  Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

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