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John Keats’s “Chapman’s Homer” (chemistry and drug discovery version)
Inspired by the title of this post.
Original version (“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”)
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-browed 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 star’d at the Pacific — and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Chemistry and drug discovery version
*Clears throat*
“Much have I travell’d in the realms of drugs,
Round many lipid bilayers have I been
Which bends in fealty to van der Waals’s hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That the deep-pocketed ion channel ruled as its demesne;
Yet did I never solvate its pure ligand
Till I heard Pauling speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the cytoplasm
When a new target swims into his ken;
Or like stout Woodward when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the polyketide — and all his postdocs
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Cambridge, MA.”
Source: http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2015/07/john-keatss-chapmans-homer-chemistry.html
