On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

I use "the speaker" here because, though it's significant that Keats wrote this poem in one night at the age of 21, what matters is HOW he expresses the speaker's wonder. What metaphor does he use for reading? How does Keats incorporate this metaphor throughout the poem? This is another sonnet, so you might want to also consider what Keats does with the fourteen-line, iambic pentameter, rhymed form.
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The speaker here is in utter awe of the piece of writing. The metaphor he uses for reading is that he has "travell'd in the realms of gold//And many good states and kingdoms seen" Meaning he's read many books, stories, and enjoyed much of what he's found and been brought attention to. He has read much based from the way of Greek literature, "Round many western islands have I been//Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold." He had been told that Homer was the top of these writers, but he hadn't understood, "Oft of one wide expanse had I been told//That deep-brow'd Homer rules as his demesne;//Yet did never I breathe its pure serene". When he heard Chapman's telling of Homer, he felt as though this was something new and yet undiscovered, "Then I felt like some watcher of the skies//When a new planet swims into his ken" Also "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." Basically, Keats feels like Chapman's version of Homer is awe-inspiring and utterly new in comparison to others he'd have come across. The way he expresses it though is as is life is all traveling and each new book is like a new kingdom waiting to be visited.

Well, in my experience sonnets are often used in admiration of something or someone, which makes its use quite appropriate. The speaker is obviously in awe of the writing. He makes interesting use of the rhyme scheme, but I'm thrown by the final line. He uses what I think is the Petrarchan style, but there is no noticeable rhyme for that final line. I can't imagine that wouldn't be deliberate though, or maybe I'm just not catching something. The whole thing flows beautifully still.