On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

To Mariane Reynolds —
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 featly to Apollo hold
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
     That deep brow’d Homer rules as his Demesne
     Yet could I never judge what Men could mean
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold
Then felt I like one 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 at each other with a wild surmise
     Silent upon a Peak in Darien.