On First Looking Into Chapmans Homer - Essay Example

? Assignment Analysis of “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” by John Keats Introduction The poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” is a sonnet written by the British poet John Keats (33-34) in the year 1816. The poem was published in Leigh Hunt’s literary periodical The Examiner in the same year. The literary work has been widely acclaimed and it is also regarded as a classic. The sonnet is basically dedicated towards developing a reflective observation of the translation of Homer’s major works by George Chapman in 1614. For details regarding Chapman’s works on Homer, Richard H. Shepherd’s edited book The Works of George Chapman: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey can be referred to. Analysis By analyzing the morphology of the poem, it can be categorized under the genre of Italian sonnet. It is typically divided into an octave and a sestet. The rhyme scheme is well-adjusted within the iambic pentameter format typical to English sonnets. However, a main drawback of the sonnet from this viewpoint is that not all of the staves contain exactly 12 syllables. Critics like Hunt have initially overlooked this drawback owing to the young age of the poet at the time of writing this poem. The poem can be critically analyzed from three major perspectives. Firstly, the biographic approach as taken by the critics like Hunt and Gittings must be considered. According to Hunt, the poem actually reflects the poet’s own ambition. Homer’s works are a secondary subject. But this secondary subject gives rise to a number of visuals so strong that the poet’s own ambitions cannot be detected very easily. In his essay “The Three Young Poets”, Hunt diagnoses Keats’s admiration for Chapman and Homer as a driving force behind developing the compulsion inside the young poet’s mind to do something phenomenal in the “realms of gold” (Keats, 33) of the literary world. Gittings also stresses on a similar scrutiny of the sonnet. In fact, Gittings has delved into a background analysis of the poem. At the time of writing this poem, young Keats was in the final stage of his apothecary education. This was the vital juncture of Keats’s life whereat he was supposed to decide about his career. He was around 21 years old then and could get ahead in life to become a reputed physician. But he appears to have changed his mind a little earlier and now he had decided to become a poet. At this stage, he was under the influence of friends like Charles Cowden Clarke who inspired him to become a poet. The poem, therefore, reveals young Keats’s fascination for grand literary works. And he particularly admired Chapman because without his wonderful translation, the young poet could hardly know about the Greek literary genius of Homer. (Gittings, 18-21) But there is a second opinion as well. No doubt that “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” is a reflective analysis of one poet regarding the works of another poet. Also, this happened through the aid of a powerful writer like George Chapman, whose legendary translation and literary inputs from English to Greek and vice versa remains unrivalled even today. This is clearly established when the poet writes “I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold” (Keats, 33-34). Yet, the literary resonance becomes more prominent. At this point once again, the morphological features of the poem must be analyzed with special reference to the usage of analogies. In the poem, Keats writes that the discovery of the charm of ancient Greek literature was rather like discovering a new planet altogether. Recently then, a new planet Uranus had been discovered by the European astronomers and Keats was relating that event with his reading of Chapman’s Homer. Another analogy has been very instrumental. In this analogy, the poet compares himself with Cortez. If one attempts to adjust this analogy in simple, plain English, then he or she must write that the poet was so astounded to have read Chapman’s translations of Homer’s works that he was feeling like Cortez “when with eagle eyes/ He star’d at the Pacific” (Keats, 34). And when had Cortez stared at the Pacific? Cortez might have stared at the Pacific when he was doing the grand task of Spanish conquest in the Americas! Experts of English literature like Strachan have emphasized on these structural superiorities of Keats’s sonnet, where the poet not only creates clever riddles but also presents unexpected but effective visuals. Nevertheless, by the end of the 20th century, a third perspective has started to germinate and mature rapidly. It is about the socio-political context of the sonnet. Definitely, there is an initial bamboozlement caste by comparing the act of reading a book with that of conquering a continent. But then the reader must ask that what is the real relevance of Cortez in this milieu? If the poet wants to compare the mirth of literary discoveries with that of exploring new continents, then why does he mention Cortez? In fact, Cortez did not discover the Pacific Ocean; that was done by Balboa (Otfinoski, 42). Then why does the poet write about Cortez instead of Balboa, if he intends to compare his discovery of Homer’s vast literary works with that of Pacific Ocean? This point can emerge as an epicenter of debate regarding Keats’s intentions behind writing the sonnet. Critics like Gittings and Roe have pointed out that friends like Clarke had made the poet aware of this discrepancy in the sonnet. And the poet did not change what he had written. Some scholars like Gittings and Strachan have tried to furnish morphological reasons behind this. They argue that Cortez was used instead of Balboa to adjust the number of syllables in the sentence. But this argument does not hold strong since discrepancies regarding the number of syllables are already present in the sonnet. For example, the line “He star’d at the Pacific – and all his men” (Keats, 34) has an extra syllable. Consequently, Roe suggests that Keats might have used the example of Cortez with some deep politico-societal implications. Possibly, the poet does not refer to discovery but conquest. And he attempts to make the reader aware of the imperial culture behind the Spanish Empire in Americas. Similarly, Homer’s works are also much about war, conquest, etc. typical to the Greek culture that looked at warfare and violence with a certain degree of esteem. Nevertheless, the question remains that why does the poet select violence, imperialism, etc. as the means of creating an analogy to glorify the task of reading a great work done centuries ago. So ultimately, Keats is found to be shuttling “metonymically between two ‘realms of gold’ – the New World and the ancient classical world of Homer’s poetry.” (Roe, 218) Conclusion There are doubts that whether Keats was able to visualize the world of literature as a place where rivalry was more important than romanticism (Gittings). In Homer’s works, rivalry and violence can be seen. Cortez’s activities too were cruel and violent. And in a world of increased rivalry and competition, art and literature too might become instruments of intellectual violence. However, if the poet was not conscious about these issues that are discernable in the beautiful sonnet he wrote, the quality of the work is rather hampered than enhanced. In spite of extra-ordinary visualizations, the sonnet has certain morphological discrepancies as well as inconsistencies regarding its multiplicity of meanings. Works Cited Chapman, George. The Works of George Chapman: Homer's Iliad and Odyssy. Richard H. Shepherd, 1885 ed. London: Chatto & Windus, 1614. Print. Gittings, Robert. Selected Poems and Letters of Keats. London: Heinemann, 1987. Print. Hunt, Leigh. "Three Young Poets." The Examiner. London: Leigh Hunt, 1816. 32-35. Print. Keats, John. "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer." The Examiner. London: Leigh Hunt, 1816. 33-34. Print. Otfinoski, Steven. Great Explorations: Vasco Nunez de Balboa. New York: Benchmark Books, 2005. Print. Roe, Nicholas. Keats and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print. Strachan, John R.. Routledge Literary Sourcebook on the Poems of John Keats. London and New York: Routledge, 2003. Print. Read More