On first looking into Chapman's Homer

Much have I travell'd 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-brow'd 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 Cortez when with eagle eyes

      He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

      Silent, upon a peak in Darien.