Who is Cortez in the John Keats poem?

The poem you're likely referring to is "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," which mentions Cortez, but Cortez isn't a character in the poem. He's actually a historical figure, Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire.

Here's how the poem uses Cortez:

The speaker compares the moment of discovering Chapman's translation of Homer's "Iliad" to Cortez's experience of "staring at the Pacific" from the peak of Darien, a moment described as a "silent, vast, and wondrous" discovery.

The poem uses Cortez as a metaphor for the overwhelming awe and wonder the speaker feels upon encountering the epic poetry of Homer for the first time, as if a whole new world of literary discovery has been opened up.

Let me know if you have any other questions!