on first looking into Chapmans homer Flashcards
what type of sonnet is it
petrachan sonet
what is poem about
the poem is about Keats reading Chapmans translation of homer and it changing his outlook on life. his imagination became that powerful it literally could change and rewrite history
chapman translated the story in a different way which made Keats feel enlightened and changed for good.
title
the fact that Keats is reading a translation of homer and not the real greek orginional echoes his lack of education and understanding, which separated him from other poets in his time period.
much have I travelled in the realms of gold
modifiers- links to how many times the stories have been told and how many times Keats has heard about them
realms of gold- metaphor for knowledge and reading. ‘gold’ and ‘realms’ gives fairytale liker imagery- power of his imagination is like living in a fairytale.
also links with ‘states’ and ‘kingdoms’- linking to medieval imagery which the romantics loved.
semantic field of royalty
round many western islands I have been
islands- geographical imagery - water surrounds them. Keats feels like an outsider and is ailianated from what the islands symbolise because of his secondary education he wasn’t able to access these realms.
cosmic irony
‘watcher of the skies’- Keats feels like he is so powerful now he has read this translation. feels high In the power heirarchy.
‘new planet swims into his ken’ - Uranus discovery. he feels complete
silent, upon a peak in Darien.’
‘silent’ -liminal moment- silence og his mind before he produces poetry. or silence that nature and this translation has stunned keats into.
‘peak’ -geographical imagery is the literal highest point - Keats feels astonished by nature- cant get any better he is on a high
Darrien- he accidentally got it wrong due to his secondary education or Keats id emphasising the power this translation on him that it literally is ground breaking and an change history and facts.
