On First Looking Into Chapman’s

HomerJohn Keats (1795-1821)

The PoetJohn Keats was born in London on Halloween in 1795 and died in Rome from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

He is noted for writing in a wide range of poetic forms, including the sonnet, Spenserian romance, Miltonic epic, and the ode.

His unique style features a “distinctive fusion of earnest energy, control of conflicting perspectives and forces, poetic self-consciousness, and…dry ironic wit.”

In his time, reviewers attacked his work as “mawkish and bad-mannered,” "vulgar,” and as consisting of "the most incongruous ideas in the most uncouth language."

A Romantic Poet“Keats today is seen as one of the canniest readers, interpreters, questioners, of the ‘modern’ poetic project…to create poetry in a world devoid of mythic grandeur, poetry that sought its wonder in the desires and sufferings of the human heart. Beyond his precise sense of the difficulties presented him in his own literary-historical moment, he developed with unparalleled rapidity, in a relative handful of extraordinary poems, a rich, powerful, and exactly controlled poetic style that ranks Keats as one of the greatest lyric poets in English”(Poetry Foundation).

TitleThe title refers to George Chapman’s translation of Homer’s The Illiad and The Odyssey.

It suggests that Keats was inspired by Homer’s work and in particular, Chapman’s translation.

Keats found the work so personally meaningful that upon his first reading he was moved to compare the experience to other emotional and imaginative states.

Paraphrase

Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Where bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Keats’ imagination is vast. He has read and explored the classics of the literary world.

ParaphraseOft 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:

But before reading Chapman’s translation he did not understand the genius and deep thought of Homer’s work.

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 stared at the Pacific—and all his men

Reading Chapman’s translation has revealed a new dimension or world to Keats. It has given him a new sense of power.

He compares it to looking in the sky and finding a new planet or to the discovery of the Pacific.

Paraphrase

Paraphrase

Figurative Language

Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Where bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Allusions

“western islands” = the voyages of Odysseus

“bards” = Shakespeare? Or poets in general

Apollo = Greek God of music and poetry

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:

Metaphor

“one wide expanse” = poetry, as vast as the sea

“demense” = estate, property

“Yet did I never breathe its pure serene”

Figurative Language

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 stared at the Pacific—and all his men

Simile

“Then felt I like some watcher of the skies” and “Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes”

Personification

“When a new planet swims into his ken”

Figurative Language

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 stared at the Pacific—and all his men

As the men who discovered the Pacific did not just glance at it but stared at it and digested its beauty, so too did Keats take in with full amazement the beauty of Homer’s epic.

Figurative Language

Figurative Language

Structure

14 lines

ABBA ABBA CDCDCD rhyme scheme

Petrarchan sonnet: octave and sestet

“The octave bears the burden; a doubt, a problem, a reflection, a query, an historical statement, a cry of indignation or desire, a vision of the ideal. The sestet eases the load, resolves the problem or doubt, answers the query, solaces the yearning, realizes the vision” (Filreis).

Figurative Language

“Then I felt like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken”

“Look’d at each other with a wild surmise- Silent, upon a peak in Darien.”

Strong senses and heightened emotions, evoke a feeling of awe, and an excitement at discovery

Attitude/Tone

ShiftThen 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 stared at the Pacific- and all his men

“Then” moves the poem to the new idea of how Chapman’s Homer effects Keats.

Theme

Think outside the box and extend beyond this poem! What is the message for you?

Watch the video on the next slide. What enduring understanding is revealed by examining this modern-day allusion to Keats’ sonnet?

An Unconventional “Reading”

What enduring understanding is revealed by examining this modern-day allusion to Keats’ sonnet?