Adventures In Poetry - John Keats: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

To celebrate National Poetry Day 2026 and this year's theme of 'wonder', poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive and selects Adventures in Poetry - John Keats: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer.

Keats was only 21 when he wrote this poem and a medical student. It's a story about spontaneity and excitement. It's the first great poem that Keats writes. Six years after this he wrote the great odes and the poems on which his reputation depends.

Keats was reading Homer because all things classical and especially ancient Greek were fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century.

Presented by Peggy Reynolds

Producers: Sara Davies and Tim Dee

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.