On First Looking Into Chapman’S Homer

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 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 on each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien.