Oedipus Chapman Poetic Devices

Keats was so inspired by Chapman’s translation that he composed this sonnet to articulate the emotion and intensity he felt. By elevating his literary experience to the level of exploration, adventure, and discovery, the sonnet becomes a homage to the power of the imagination. Keats was seeking an escape “from the conventionalised diction of Augustan poetry and…knew that a good way of evading…[this]…was to…reach back to a more distant past” (Corn 75). The formal elements and manoeuvres significantly contribute to the central argument – the power of literature to stimulate new vistas of experience.

The Petrarchan form and strict adherence to the rhyme scheme (the metre is predominantly iambic pentameter) deftly structures the drama, a necessary

By framing the octet like this, Keats can powerfully state that, despite his many adventures in fictive worlds, which he figuratively describes as “realms of gold” (1) (an appropriate metaphor for the richness of literature), Chapman’s “loud and bold” (8) Homeric verse is the transformational

“Stout”, “eagle eyes” (11) and “star’d” (12) in the sestet suddenly convey a heavy sense of awe-inspired stillness. On the “peak” (14) of discovery, the explorer is overwhelmed; the magnitude of the revelation sweeps aside all movement and sound. This shift from the earlier movement of the sonnet is a contrast heightened by the focus on the eyes and a sense of maniacal wonderment at what has been unveiled. A dash at the end of line 13 intensifies the visceral image of stunned immobility and augments the impact to the opening of line 14. The caesural comma in the final line, combined with “silent”, which breaks the iambic metre, renders it dramatic and forceful, encouraging the reader to stop and contemplate the infinite landscapes that the imagination is capable of conjuring. Furthermore, “all of his men” (12) rhymes faintly with “Darien” (14), providing a soft, yet resonant,