In constructing his poem “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer,” Keats chooses to utilize the Petrarchan sonnet. Using this stringent form to express the speaker’s response to Homer’s epic creates the tension inherent in condensing a reaction to an important and lengthy literary work to 15 lines. The use of the Petrarchan sonnet forces Keats to wring the maximum meaning from each word, constructing and conveying his images carefully. Keats successfully encapsulates the speaker’s entire range of emotion in the stringent form of the 15-line sonnet. Keats likens the discovery of Homer to an explorer (Cortez) witnessing the Pacific for the first time or an astronomer discovering a new planet, allowing the reader to understand the revolutionary magnitude of the speaker’s discovery.
The octet/sestet division also paves the way for the clear delineation of the speaker’s frustration at being unable to read Homer’s works (the problem) and his total satisfaction once they are accessible (the resolution). The images of “realms of gold” and “western islands” make sense in juxtaposition with images of Cortez and his men looking out from Darien. This is because the former are used to establish the speaker’s extensive knowledge of and appreciation for poetry and the latter are employed to further this end. The transition in tone from one set of images to the other is also appropriate to the Petrachan form. The longing conveyed in the octet finds its solution in the awe expressed in the sestet.
One of the best examples of Keats’ economy of words within the constraints of his chosen form is the use of “Apollo” in line four. Words that help convey more than one of the poem’s central ideas are especially important. The reference to the Greek god of the sun and of poetry unites the poem’s emphasis on antiquity and the speaker’s reverence of poetry. The reference to Apollo comes midway through the octet, while Homer’s works have not been translated and lie beyond the speaker’s grasp. Apollo comes to represent a somewhat more accessible figure from a largely unknowable world. Additionally, Apollo is the god of poetry and the arts, esteemed by “bards,” further contributing underscoring the speaker’s extensive knowledge of poetry.
The reference to Apollo also contributes to the formal unity of the poem. The sestet deals largely with the illumination that accompanies reading Homer’s epics as translated by Chapman. Apollo is the sun god in Greek mythology and so literally brought illumination in the eyes of the ancients, much as the Iliad and Odyssey illuminate the world of the ancients for the speaker. The multiple meanings of “Apollo” serve to both create tension in the poem and point to the eventual resolution of that tension.
The octet/sestet division also paves the way for the clear delineation of the speaker’s frustration at being unable to read Homer’s works (the problem) and his total satisfaction once they are accessible (the resolution). The images of “realms of gold” and “western islands” make sense in juxtaposition with images of Cortez and his men looking out from Darien. This is because the former are used to establish the speaker’s extensive knowledge of and appreciation for poetry and the latter are employed to further this end. The transition in tone from one set of images to the other is also appropriate to the Petrachan form. The longing conveyed in the octet finds its solution in the awe expressed in the sestet.
One of the best examples of Keats’ economy of words within the constraints of his chosen form is the use of “Apollo” in line four. Words that help convey more than one of the poem’s central ideas are especially important. The reference to the Greek god of the sun and of poetry unites the poem’s emphasis on antiquity and the speaker’s reverence of poetry. The reference to Apollo comes midway through the octet, while Homer’s works have not been translated and lie beyond the speaker’s grasp. Apollo comes to represent a somewhat more accessible figure from a largely unknowable world. Additionally, Apollo is the god of poetry and the arts, esteemed by “bards,” further contributing underscoring the speaker’s extensive knowledge of poetry.
The reference to Apollo also contributes to the formal unity of the poem. The sestet deals largely with the illumination that accompanies reading Homer’s epics as translated by Chapman. Apollo is the sun god in Greek mythology and so literally brought illumination in the eyes of the ancients, much as the Iliad and Odyssey illuminate the world of the ancients for the speaker. The multiple meanings of “Apollo” serve to both create tension in the poem and point to the eventual resolution of that tension.
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