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 beenWhich bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been toldThat deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne:Yet did I never breathe its pure sereneTill I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold;
—Then felt I like some watcher of the skiesWhen a new planet swims into his ken;Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific—and all his menLooked on each other with a wild surmise—Silent, upon a peak in Darien.