.
.
   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 been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
     That deep-browed 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 Cortcz when with eagle eyes
     He stared at the Pacific - and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise -
     Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

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* George Chapman (1559?-1634?), an Elizabethan poet and translator of Homer. 

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