Comment by snakeboy

Comment by snakeboy 2 months ago

7 replies

It's only superficially relevant here, but I love the poem, so I'll share it anyway:

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-brow'd 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.
phreeza 2 months ago

Did Cortez really land in Darien? I thought that was the site of the ill-fated Scottish attempt at setting up a colony.

  • sdeer 2 months ago

    It was Balboa who led the first European expedition across isthmus of Panama and saw the Pacific Ocean and claimed it (yes,the whole Ocean) for Spain. Cortez to my knowledge never set foot in Panama.

    The Scottish colony was much later.

    • snakeboy 2 months ago

      True, but "stout Cortez" sounds better than "stout Balboa" ;)

  • DiscourseFan 2 months ago

    who gives a shit

    • farleykr 2 months ago

      Not a fan of discourse?

      • DiscourseFan 2 months ago

        I'm sick, so forgive me. But also, like, its a poem. I mean, of all the things to nitpick, the historical accuracy of poetry is probably the most banal.

        • phreeza 2 months ago

          It wasn't meant as a nitpick, I was curious. The other reply was actually interesting.