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 stared at the Pacific—and all his men

    Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

    Silent upon a peak in Darien.