Chapmans Version of The Odyssey and the Iliad Essay

Chapmans Version of The Odyssey and the Iliad This poem is an expression of how the poet John Keats felt after rediscovering Homers The Odyssey and the Iliad when he read Chapmans English translation of this Greek classic. To express this he uses the form of a sonnet, with fourteen lines, every set of two lines rhyming. The first four lines are one long sentence consisting mainly as metaphors to summarize his full meaning in whole. Much have I travelld in the realms of gold, and many goodly states and kingdoms seen. This can be understood only in a literary and not a literal sense. I say this because he was relatively poor and probably had traveled very little when he wrote this poem at age 21.* But we know†¦show more content†¦Oft on one wide expanse had I been told That deep-browd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Keats is telling us how he had heard about another great kingdom of writing, the serene air of which he had never breathed. (probably because he never learned Greek) * Perhaps Keats is stating Homers deep intellect with the term deep-browd. 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; Even though this is mid-sentence, I see this, as the pivotal point of the poem, where Keats starts to express his emotions towards Chapmans version of Homers The Odyssey and the Iliad. Keats expresses his encounter with Homers Odyssey as powerful and impacting. He compares it to an Astrologer as a watcher of the skies, because for an astrologer to see a planet just come into existence and their impact on destiny is just amazing and powerful. Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stard at the Pacific In continuing the comparison, Keats uses the Explorer, Cortezs eagle eyes as a metaphor for far-sightedness as he discovers the Pacific, and how the far-sightedness helped him to see further even beyond the ocean into deeper discoveries. - and all his men Lookd at each other with a wild surmise - Silent, upon a peak in Darien In my opinion, Keats is describing Cortezs men as doubtful orShow MoreRelatedLiterary Group in British Poetry5631 Words   |  23 Pagesaround the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England, or poetry written in the English language. The earliest surviving poetry was likely transmitted orally and then written down in versions that do not now survive; thus, dating the earliest poetry remains difficult and often controversial. The earliest surviving manuscripts date from the 10th century. Poetry written in Latin, Brythonic (a predecessor language of Welsh) and Old Irish