On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
Keats, John (1795-1821)

Much have I travelled 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-browed 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 then all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.


Immortal Poems of the English Language (Williams)

demesne -- (du-main or, here, du-meen) domain, territory
Darien was an earlier name for Panamá