"On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats 299 Words Essay Example
Table of Content
Keats made very few changes in it, but the changes he made show that he realized that inspiration is not enough; it must be followed by critical judgment. It's in an early sonnet, "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" that Keats displays the attitudes of a true scientist. With a superbly sustained metaphor of exploration, the sonnet describes an episode in the imaginative voyage that was of paramount importance to his development – that of reading. He had learned Latin, but Greek was not available to "Cockney" poets. It was thanks to his schoolmaster Charles Cowden Clarke that Keats had first discovered Edmund Spenser. Now Clarke introduced him to the work of another Elizabethan, George Chapman, whose translations of Homer the young men read together during an evening's get-together which the enthralled Keats would describe as "our first symposium".
CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. Progressive rock band Genesis, in their Song "Watcher of the Skies" appear to reference the poem – specifically with the line "Raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown". The title of Patrick Kavanagh's poem "On Looking into E. V. Rieu's Homer", about E. V. Rieu's Homer translations, is an allusion on the title of Keats' poem. In the Season 5 episode "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" of the sitcom 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy, quotes the poem while musing on his new start as an executive for the company Kabletown. Tracy Morgan's character, Tracy Jordan, later mentions "Stout Cortez" , as well.
An Unfortunate Error: Balboa not "Cortez"
After reading the poem Keats feels he has transcended the role of a passive viewer of literature and believes that he can create his own great works. In essence, Chapman’s version of Homer’s work leaves Keats inspired to think and create. This inspiration is evidenced not only by the fact that he stayed up all night thinking about the translation, thus engaging in philosophical/intellectual discourse over the translation, but that he drafted the sonnet by the very next morning. Keats is reinforcing the vastness of Homer’s legacy and his admiration – not only was it rich, but prolific, a trait which he very much wanted to emulate. To emphasise the extent of Homers genius and his literary accomplishments, Keats modifies “expanse” with an adjective which also means “extensive”, “wide”, to reinforce how limitless his intellect was.
But he couldn't read The Odyssey or The Iliad in the original Greek, because he didn't know Greek. So he's had to rely on translations, like Pope's, that didn't really impress him that much - and he didn't really get what was so great about Homer. One of the most popular versions at the time was by the poet Alexander Pope. Keats really didn't like Pope's translation - he thought it seemed artificial, and it was stiff and flowery. He didn't really like it because Keats was a Romantic poet, and he wanted something that didn't have artificially ornate language, because that's kind of anti-Romantic.
On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer Analysis
Additional materials, such as the best quotations, synonyms and word definitions to make your writing easier are also offered here. This is also a very visual experience, and Keats emphasises Cortez’s eyes by calling them “eagle eyes”. This suggests that Cortez’s eyes are keen, observing strongly and are paying close attention to detail, just as Keats thoroughly observed all of Chapman’s Homer, so much so that he felt as though he was breathing it in and literally surviving though it.
It's also Greek, obviously, so it reinforces the Odysseus meaning. That's why sonnets are awesome, because they are short but they've got lots of stuff packed in there. After Keats and Clarke stayed up feasting on Chapman's Homer, Keats immediately went to work on a poem. Kind of like fan fiction, but better, because we're still reading it (and I don't think we'll be reading any Twilight fan fiction any time soon). He had it complete and actually waiting for Clarke when his friend came to breakfast the next morning. The poem was published in The Examiner, which was a magazine, and then in Keats' first book, called Poems .
Have you read these?
The imagery of Cortez and his men standing “silent” and in awe is a stark contrast to the previous booming, “loud and bold voice” in the Volta which prompted Keats’s epiphany. The fact that Cortez is said to “Stare” also reinforces how entrancing and enthralling the sight of the ocean was for him, just as Keats was hypnotised by Chapman’s Homer. By deliberately choosing the discovery of an ocean over a planet, Keats emphases his view point that we only have access to a finite, limited bank of knowledge. The sea is also a method of transportation, just as Chapman’s Homer is the vehicle for Keats’s own discovery. The second part deals with the poet’s experience after reading the translated works.
This also reflects his hunger to be exposed to more and greater works. The repetition of the “l” sounds in “travelled”, “realms”, and “gold” emphasises the idea and ties the words together. The frequent and insistent use of first person narrative also reinforces the extent of Keats own personal knowledge; how well travelled and widely versed he is, and therefore we understand his epiphany upon reading Chapman’s Homer is well informed and trustworthy. However, Keats subverts this traditional structure to instead aid a before and after response; in this case the Octet ponders his travels and knowledge before Chapman’s Homer, while the Sestet then contrasts his enlightening experience of finally reading it. For more of Keats’s poetry, see our discussion of his classic sonnet about death, his beautiful ode to melancholy, and ouranalysis of his short poetic fragment, ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’.
poets.org
Darien is a stretch of land on the eastern part of the isthmus joining Mexico and South America. It is very important in the history of geographical discoveries. Tracing the very short career of one of England’s greatest poets. Students looking for free, top-notch essay and term paper samples on various topics.
Some of his great poetic works include ‘The Eve of St. Agnes‘, ‘Isabella’, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci‘, ‘Endymion‘, and ‘To Autumn‘. — A review from 1818 published in Blackwood's Magazine, showcasing some of the literary establishment's prejudices against Keats. Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
Cortez is "stout," that is, fearless, and he is alert, "with eagle eyes." Only men such as he discover Pacific Oceans. This is one of the great moments of history, and Keats boldly appropriates it to express his own feelings of having made a thrilling discovery beyond which there may lie countless other similar discoveries as he increases his acquaintance with the world of poetry. The poet compares his reading of Chapman’s translation with the watcher of the sky. After reading the translation feels that he has discovered a new planet in the sky. The planet here refers to Homer’s work and sky refers to the world of literature.
A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem that is divided into five tercets or sets of three lines, and one concluding quatrain, or set of four lines. Dharmender is a writer by passion, and a lawyer by profession. He has has a degree in English literature from Delhi University, and Mass Communication from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, Delhi, as well as holding a law degree. Dharmender is awesomely passionate about Indian and English literature. His longer poems are ‘Lamia‘, ‘Hyperion‘, ‘Endymion‘, ‘The Eve of St. Agnes‘, and a lot more.
Comments
Post a Comment