ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER - Ben Jonson Poems

 
 

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ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER

Much have I travell'd 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-brow'd 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 star'd at the Pacific--and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
      Silent, upon a peak in Darien.