Keats’ popularity stems from his ability to engage the senses and take us away from our mundane lives to a better place. How far do you agree? Keats is universally known as a poet of the senses. His popularity emerged when he continued to explore the senses and the idea of discovery in a wide range of poems. He is able to communicate the idea of exploring destinations and using the senses, to his audience through two specific poems, ‘On the Sea’ and ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer.
‘ In these two poems, he creates a transition from the octet to the sestet by using imagination and nature.
Keats’ incessant use of language referring to our senses allows the readers to relate to the situation within the poem, Keats wrote poems during the Romantic period of 1780 – 1850. He uses Romantic ideas to create an effect of moving onwards from a mundane life to a better place. ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ was written in 1816 in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet.
This sonnet was one of Keats’ first poems. He was inspired to write this poem after stumbling upon the translation by George Chapman, ‘The whole works of Homer. ‘ Homer was in fact an ancient Greek poet who wrote ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’.
Stout Cortez
‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ illustrates the themes of exploration and discovery which is shown through traveling. “Realms of gold” used in the opening of the poem shows discovery as it is a metaphor for Homer’s writing.
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The sonnet is divided into two different ideas. There is a clear transition between the octet and the sestet, taking the reader through Keats’ adaptation of Homer’s experiences. The theme of exploration dominates the octet. It creates a metaphor of the poet as a literary adventurer as it describes Keats’ knowledge and understanding prior to reading Homer’s poetry.
In ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ Keats is exploring the human mind through ideas and the world through poetry. This is the reason he refers to Greek mythology, such as Apollo, the god of poetry. The sestet reveals Keats’ understanding and amazement within the theme of discovery. Similes are used in order to express his wonder, “Like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes. ” Alliteration is also used here to draw attention to the detail. The most significant section in this sonnet is the Volta, creating the transition from the theme of exploration to the theme of discovery.
Keats creates this transition from the octet to the sestet, as in the octet he is yet to read Chapman’s translation while in the sestet he has the completed Chapman’s poetry about Homer. This sonnet contains great honesty and power displayed by Cortez, the Spanish adventurer’s, discovery of the Pacific Ocean. ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ uses imagery which is focused on travel. Imaginative ideas are concentrated on it this sonnet, such as the use of the senses. Keats refers to the senses several times throughout the poem. Thus he is able to create the impression of movement onwards, which is used a lot in Romantic styled poems.
One of Keats’ focusing points of our senses was, “watcher of the skies” this line creates a sense of excitement and joy brought forward by Keats’ imagination of Homer’s discovery. One can feel the wonder of the idea of looking up to the sky and discovering a new planet, Uranus. This poem would be best described as an intellectual and emotional voyage of literary discovery. The two poems, ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ and ‘On the Sea’ have similarities as they are both Petrarchan sonnets written in the same time period, which focuses on the idea of traveling to some where different and the discovery of new locations.
The idea of vast movement is brought upon the reader in both poems. Even though the settings are very different they are both able to captivate the reader’s attention by creating an extensive transition from a standard reality to a fantasy world bursting with energy. For example, in ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ Keats uses similes to explain Homer’s discovery and his tone appears to be very enthusiastic when writing about Homer throughout the sestet. Both sonnets have a continuous reference to the senses. ‘On the sea’ refers to what you, hear, see and taste, “oh ye whose ears are dinned.
” ‘On first looking at Chapman’s Homer’ refers to sight, touch and sound. The poems seem to value the senses such as, sight and sound more than smell. I believe he does this because using sound and sight is able to create more vivid images. The idea of traveling used in both poems is brought upon by inspiration. The sea inspires Keats to travel away from reality and reach a new world motivated by dreams. Chapman’s translation of Homer inspires Keats to write about a whole fantasy of discovering. In both these poems he is able to believe and make the reader imagine they are in a separate life at this time.
Chapman's Homer. (2019, Dec 05). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-chapmans-homer/
