On First Looking into Chapman
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer Much have I traveled 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 have 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 stared at the Pacific-and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise-Assignment: Write an expository essay on ONE of the sonnets studied during this course John Keats's "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" is an attempt to convince the reader of the beauty and power of a work that impacted literary history in a significant way. This, to him was like a discovery or revelation which was no less significant than those of great explorers of outer space and the earth itself. Prior to Chapman's translation of Homer's works, these epics were normally the 'realms' of the
(This is coupled with the fact that he uses the first person to give the work more depth and passion). In conclusion, the poet achieved his aim by taking the reader along with him from his journey of complacency to the amazing of the discovery of Homer, and his realization that in reading Homer he had joined a company of others who had discovered the "Homeric" new planet and even more awesome, the "Homeric" ocean. He uses the poetic element of comparisons/similes to express this revelation of beauty and power in literature. The sestet is connected by the a new set of rhyme sounds, -ies (rhyme c) and -en (rhyme d). This is supported by likening them to the awesomeness felt by some 'watcher of the skies' as a new planet "swims into his ken. [h]e stared at the Pacific" from the peak of Darien. elite in their circles of higher learning, from which Keats was excluded. A salient metaphor is the reference to Cortez' eyes as 'eagle eyes' (the eagle being historically fabled to have such magnificent vision it can even stare at the sun) giving a subtle and mythical over?tone to the experience; Cortez himself likely evoked such qualities. [w]hich bards in fealty to Apollo hold. It is divided into two large parts formatted into an iambic pentameter (five-beat): one octet - the first eight lines - containing two quatrains rhyming abba,abba in which he states the issue - "I never knew Homer till I read Chapman - and a sestet (the last six lines) of three couplets rhyming cd,cd,cd - "Then I felt like .
Common topics in this essay:
Italian Petrarchan,
Pacific Ocean,
Chapman's Homer,
Prior Chapman's,
Assignment Write,
Pacific-and Looked,
Cortezone Europes,
pure serene,
chapman's homer,
stout cortez,
peak darien,
beauty power,
realms gold,
pacific ocean,
Looking Chapman's,
fealty apollo hold,
gold goodly kingdoms,
planet swims,
gold goodly,
homer's demesne,
breathe pure serene,
bards fealty apollo,
demesne breathe pure,
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Acceptance Essays
