JOHN KEATS (1795-1821) ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER MUCH have I travelled in the realms of gold, That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne; 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; Looked at each other with a wild surmise— 1 History, as the commentators all remind us, here requires Balboa. Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific in 1513. JOHN KEATS THE HUMAN SEASONS FOUR Seasons fill the measure of the year; Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves Or else he would forego his mortal nature. JOHN KEATS TO A LADY SEEN FOR A FEW MOMENTS AT VAUXHALL TIME's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb; And But I behold thine eye's well memoried light; But to thy cheek my soul doth take its flight; I cannot look on any budding flower But my fond ear, in fancy at thy lips, And hearkening for a love-sound, doth devour Every delight with sweet remembering, And grief into my darling joys dost bring. JOHN KEATS ON A PICTURE OF LEANDER COME hither, all sweet maidens, soberly, Untouched, a victim of your beauty bright, Nigh swooning, he doth purse his weary lips For Hero's cheek, and smiles against her smile. O horrid dream! see how his body dips, Dead-heavy; arms and shoulders gleam awhile: JOHN KEATS ON THE SEA Ir keeps eternal whisperings around Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound. Often 'tis in such gentle temper found, That scarcely will the very smallest shell Be moved for days from whence it sometime fell, When last the winds of heaven were unbound. Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vexed and tired, Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea; Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude, Or fed with too much cloying melody, Sit ye near some old cavern's mouth, and brood |