What inspired John Keats to write “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”?

John Keats was inspired to write the sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer" after excitedly reading a 1616 folio edition of George Chapman’s classic 17th-century English translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey.12

Considered the poet's first mature work, the sonnet serves as Keats's response to the heroism depicted in Homer's epics. The experience of reading Chapman's translation—which contains passages of great power and beauty—left a profound impression on Keats, prompting him to capture his sense of discovery in verse.132