User:CalebSohSweeKai/On first looking into Chapman’s Homer
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On first looking into Chapman’s Homer is a poem written by John Keats in October 1816.[1] It relates Keats’ experience of encountering Chapman’s translation of the Greek poet Homer, after staying up all night to read Chapman’s Homer with his tutor Charles Clarke.
It describes his experience of Homer’s poetry as a “pure serene” moment. A moment of tranquility and clear understanding into the insights of Homer’s poems.
It uses the analogies of discovering new horizons such as the Pacific Ocean, and new worlds such as discovering a planet, to describe how Chapman helped Keats’ to appreciate Homer’s poems. Keats previously knew of passages of Homer from Alexander Pope’s translation but did not fully appreciate their depth and beauty until he read Chapman’s translation. Chapman added descriptions and philosophical interpretation to Homer in the process of translation.
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