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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: TO HOMER by JOHN KEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: STANDING ALOOF IN GIANT IGNORANCE
Last Line: TO DIAN, QUEEN OF EARTH, AND HEAVEN, AND HELL.
Subject(s): HOMER (10TH CENTURY B.C.); POETRY & POETS; ILIAD; ODYSSEY;

STANDING aloof in giant ignorance,
Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,
As one who sits ashore and longs perchance
To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.
So thou wast blind;--but then the veil was rent,
For Jove uncurtain'd Heaven to let thee live,
And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,
And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;
Aye on the shores of darkness there is light,
And precipices show untrodden green,
There is a budding morrow in midnight,
There is a triple sight in blindness keen;
Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befel
To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell.



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