![]() ![]() The reference to a "new planet" would have been salient to contemporary readers because of the recent discovery of Uranus with a telescope in 1781 by William Herschel, Court Astronomer to George III. That sense of fresh discovery brings the reader to the volta: " Then felt I.". The "wide expanse" might have been a horizon of land or sea, but in Keats's breathing, its "pure serene", that is now sensed encompasses the whole atmosphere, and in it, Chapman's voice rings out. The second quatrain introduces "one wide expanse" that was ruled by Homer but was "heard of", rather than known to Keats at first-hand since Homer wrote in Greek, and Keats, like most other cultured Englishmen of his time, was at ease only in Latin. The island-dotted Aegean lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and so Keats contrasts the western islands of his own experience with the East Indies, the goal that drew adventurers like Cortés and Balboa to the New World, an example of the submerged imagery behind the text that is typical of Keats's technique. Delos is the sacred island that was Apollo's birthplace. Of the many deities worshipped in the cultures of the Aegean, the god to whom the bards owe the most in fealty is Apollo, the leader of the inspiring Muses. ![]() The "realms of gold" in the opening line seem to imply worldly riches until the name of Homer appears, when they are recognised as literary and cultural realms. ![]() Statue of Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaching forward he led the first Europeans to see the Pacific Ocean. ![]()
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