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-brow’d 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 menLook’d at each other with a wild surmise--Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Words in this poem
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- watcher n.
- One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On First Looking into Chapman’s “Homer” is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, On First Looking into Chapman’s “Homer”, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/on-first-looking-into-chapman-s-homer.html, id L25333.
Form and metre
On First Looking into Chapman’s “Homer” is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ACBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ACBA goldA · seenC · beenB · holdA
- 2 ACBA toldA · demesneC · sereneB · boldA
- 3 DCD skiesD · kenC · eyesD
- 4 CD- menC · surmiseD · darien
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Round many western islands have I been | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Oft of one wide expanse had I been told | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet did I never breathe its pure serene | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then felt I like some watcher of the skies | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When a new planet swims into his ken; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| He stared at the Pacific--and all his men | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Look’d at each other with a wild surmise-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Silent, upon a peak in Darien. | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.