Analysis of On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)




     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.


Scheme ABCAABBADEDEDF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111000111 0101010101 1101010111 11010010101 1111011111 111101111 1111011101 1111011101 1111110101 1011010111 1110111101 11100100111 1111010101 1001010100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 667
Words 112
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 447
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

34 sec read
104

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

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