John Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the meaning and construction of John Keats' sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" and explains that it was written as an immediate response to the revelation experienced by Keats on first reading George Chapman's classic translation of Homer's epic the "Odyssey". The paper further relates that Keats' poem expresses his excitement about what he has just discovered in reading Chapman's work, which leads him to want to make more discoveries about himself and about the world, especially the world of ancient times.

From the Paper:

"As is the case with the sonnet form, this sonnet is in fourteen lines. The rhyme scheme may vary in different types of sonnet, and Keats her uses a scheme of ABBA ABBA CDCDCD. The Shakespearian sonnet would normally end with a couplet, but Keats does not do that, effectively using two quatrains followed by a six-line conclusion. The meter for the sonnet is iambic pentameter, with variations that emphasize words and thoughts. for instance, line 10 is ... a line that is hard to read in strict iambic pentameter and that begins with a trochee, an accented followed by an unaccented syllable, followed by a spondee, with two accented syllables."

More papers on John Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer":

• Term Paper # 101646 : "John Keats And His Poetry"
• Poem Review # 150386 : "Shakespeare vs. Keats"
• Comparison Essay # 44443 : "Coleridge and Keats"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: