"On first looking into Chapman's Homer," John Keats

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:58:59 GMT

clipped by: akarra

On first looking into Chapman's Homer

John Keats

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 stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Tags: poetry, keats

Regarding Nezval's "Defenestration"

Sun, 11 May 2008 05:19:43 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A complex poem gets a complicated commentary.

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

2 -3. Prague has decided to sail from the medieval order. The ship of state looms large in the darkness, as if it needed no otherworldly protection.

It does not sail without style. Neon lights that resemble bright climbing monkeys bring us back to Babel. The ship itself is a powerful scent, a water beyond the waters below, and even the light from everyone's enjoyment seems so pitiful, contrasted with the motion of it all.

Tags: poetry, nezval, czech

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"On first looking into Chapman's Homer," John Keats

Regarding Nezval's "Defenestration"