Romanticism

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-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 star'd at the Pacific — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

This poem by John Keats is from the Romantics era and reflects Romanticism. The Romantics could be called "sappy" writers. They are described as being overcome by an emotion by an experience such as what is happening in the poem. Keats is describing the first time he read Chapman's homer. Each line is a way Keats describes how he feels as he reads it. In general each line is describing something happening for the first time. Or something small on the brink of experiencing something extraordinary. The colorful ways the words are used is also a way the poem reflects Romanticism. Romantics are also notorious for using a much more colorful language and not being so literal as most other genres are. Their figurative language is often the main appeal for many to read Romantic works.