The Romantic poets: On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer by John Keats Poetry

Table of Content

• The Full Text of “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”
• Related summaries: books by John Keats
• Resources created by teachers for teachers
• “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer” Vocabulary
• John Keats "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"

The speaker then chooses two other bits of information that help him show the drama and depth of awe he has felt with this new, improved translation. He compares that feeling to the feeling of an astronomer as the scientist watches while "a new planet swims" into view. Henry James refers to Keats's sonnet in Book 2 of The Golden Bowl , in his description of Adam Verver's discovery of his passion for collecting objects of art. Edgar Allan Poe was inspired by Keats's writing about the discovery of Uranus when he wrote his early poem "Al Aaraaf" . As is typical of sonnets in English, the metre is iambic pentameter though not all of the lines scan perfectly .

The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off! This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical.

The Full Text of “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”

It's also Greek, obviously, so it reinforces the Odysseus meaning. That's why sonnets are awesome, because they are short but they've got lots of stuff packed in there. After Keats and Clarke stayed up feasting on Chapman's Homer, Keats immediately went to work on a poem. Kind of like fan fiction, but better, because we're still reading it (and I don't think we'll be reading any Twilight fan fiction any time soon). He had it complete and actually waiting for Clarke when his friend came to breakfast the next morning. The poem was published in The Examiner, which was a magazine, and then in Keats' first book, called Poems .

But his reading of Chapman’s translation of Homer’s epics gave him greater pleasure than he received from earlier readings. He was highly inspired by his reading of Homer through Chapman. Keats says that he has read a number of books of adventurous and romantic tales. His reading has been like traveling in the different countries of the mind – the countries of imagination and fancy. They have given him pleasure as much as the sight of the realm of gold would give a poor man. Further, Keats says that he has explored the noble and pleasure-giving world of adventurous romances.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”

This represents the come down from the white hot excitement upon first reading Chapman’s Homer, to the quiet, pensive, yet still dumb-stuck speechlessness Keats would later on experience. Again, Keats is conveying that the English language is limiting and reluctant to allow you to fully express and communicate the impact of profound moments such as this. He has often been told that among the vast lands of literature, Homer too rules a significant region i.e. he too has contributed distinguished literature in the literary world. However, the poet, in spite of knowing about him could not go deep into the intellectual enrichment of his works.

Chapman was a contemporary of Shakespeare in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Shakespeare actually probably read Chapman's translations; that's probably where he got his Homer. John Keats wrote a poem called 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer.' Explore why Keats wrote this sonnet, what the structure, subject, and meaning of it is, and also discover the features of a sonnet. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer was the second poem that John Keats (1795–1821) had published, although it was far from being the first that he had written.

Related summaries: books by John Keats

Though Wordsworth and Shelley have also written some remarkable odes, no other English poet has returned to this form so often and with so much success. Keats has created an uplifting and thought provoking sonnet which encourages and inspires us to seek beyond the knowledge we have already gained, and to always aspire for more. This sonnet is so technically praised because not only is the content inspiring, but his appreciation of verse form and meter have been demonstrated faultlessly through out to create a satisfying piece of art in a mere fourteen lines. The fourth line moves away from those who enjoy art, to those who actually create it; “Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.” The high, even sacred function that poets fulfil is indicated by their being the servants of a god, Apollo, and having sworn to follow him . “Fealty” indicates their dedication to Apollo and consequently their calling – the creation of poetry. The word choice of “gold” shows just how rich and rare these experiences are, and also alludes to the search for gold of the Spanish conquistadors, linking to his reference to Cortez in the Sestet.

The database is updated daily, so anyone can easily find a relevant essay example. Then there's a shift leading into the final six-line section, which is a sestet, which sounds like six. What they realized, after the equivalent of staying up all night and watching all the seasons, was that most people were reading Pope because it was more recent than Chapman. He thought it was a travesty that no one was reading this awesome Chapman's Homer translation. In October of 1816, John Keats was hanging out with his friend Charles Cowden Clarke. They got their hands on a copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey translated by this dude named George Chapman - you might have figured that out from the title.

The imagery of Cortez and his men standing “silent” and in awe is a stark contrast to the previous booming, “loud and bold voice” in the Volta which prompted Keats’s epiphany. The fact that Cortez is said to “Stare” also reinforces how entrancing and enthralling the sight of the ocean was for him, just as Keats was hypnotised by Chapman’s Homer. By deliberately choosing the discovery of an ocean over a planet, Keats emphases his view point that we only have access to a finite, limited bank of knowledge. The sea is also a method of transportation, just as Chapman’s Homer is the vehicle for Keats’s own discovery. The second part deals with the poet’s experience after reading the translated works.

The elation of observing a new planet for the first time would no doubt be very intense, and this speaker's enthusiasm, he thinks, is equal to that of the astronomer. He also refers to the enthusiasm of the western explorers who originally discovered the Pacific Ocean. Those explorers had at first believed that they had reached the Asian continent, in particular, India.

Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. The metre usually chosen for sonnets is iambic pentameter, that is five iambs or metrical feet per line, where a iamb is one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable. The effect is stately and rhythmic, and usually creates a solemn, dignified mood.

Unfortunately, this otherwise fine poem reveals that the skillful poet, John Keats, entertained a tenuous grasp of history. But the blooper does help emphasize the fact that readers must not rely on poets for historically accurate facts. John Keats' speaker takes his readers on a pleasant literary journey inspired by a new translation of the works of the Greek poet, Homer, with whom the literary tradition of the Western world has been deemed to begin. The "realms of gold" in the opening line seem to imply worldly riches until the name of Homer appears, when they are recognised as literary and cultural realms. Of the many islands of the Aegean, the one that bards the most in fealty owe to Apollo, the leader of the inspiring Muses, is Delos, the sacred island that was Apollo's birthplace. The poem is about the effect reading Chapman’s Homer had on Keats.