The Iliad of Homer
Faithfully translated
into unrhymed English metre
F. W. Newman
London, 1856

[Sample from the Opening of the Poem]

THE ILIAD

BOOK I

Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing,       oh goddess, the resentment
Accursed, which with countless pangs   Achaia’s army wounded,
And forward flung to Aïdes           full many a gallant spirit
Of heroes, and their very selves     did toss to dogs that ravin,
And unto every fowl, (for so          would Jove’s device be compass’d);
From that first day when feud arose    implacable, and parted
The son of Atreus, prince of men       and Achileus the godlike.
   Which of the gods entangled you    in wrathfulness of quarrel?
Jove and Latona’s son it was,              who, with the king embitter’d,
Sent mid the army sore disease          till troop on troop would perish: 
Because-that Atrues’ royal son           disdainfully rejected
Chryses, Apollo’s worshipper,            who, to release his daughter,
Unto the sharp Achaian galleys         came with boundless ransom,
The ensign bearing in his hands        of arrowy Apollo
Upon his golden sceptre wreath’d,    and sued to all the Achaians,   
And most of all, to Atreus’ sons,        twin marshals of the people:—
   “Children of Atreus! And the rest   of dapper-greav’d Achaians!
Oh! unto you, may all the gods,        who hold Olympian dwellings,
Grant Priam’s city for a spoil,             and happy voyage homeward:
But my dear child yield up to me,      and take my proffer’d ransom, 
In homage to the son of Jove,             Apollo the far-darting.”
   Then all Achaia’s other folk             murmur’d assent well-omen’d,
To pity and revere the priest              and take the brilliant ransom;
But Agamemnon, Atreus’ son            delight in mercy found not,
But sent him off with contumely       and words of stern monition:
   “Beware, old sire! lest here beside   Achaia’s hollow galleys,
Or now I catch thee lingering            or afterwards returning;
Lest, that thy sceptre save thee not  nor yet they sacred ensign.
But her I never will release:                sooner shall age o’ertake her,
Far distant from her land of birth      within our house at Argos; 
For there shall she the shuttle ply     and at my bed attend me.
But come! my temper fret not; else   less safe they journey homeward.”
   The old man quail’d before the word,  and hastily obey’d him.
Speechless he went along the strand  of the much brawling water:
Then many a pray’r in loneliness       he pour’d with aged bosom 
To prince Apollo, whom to bear,      bright-hair’d Latona travail’d:
   “Lord of the silver arrows, hear!     who overshelt’rest Chrysa,
Who bravely reign’st in Tenedos      and in the heav’nly Killa;
If ever pleasant offerings                   to thee, O god of Sminthus!
I hanged o’er the temple walls,         or burn’d upon thy altar    
The fatten’d limbs of bulls and goats;  this wish for me accomplish!
Cause by thy bolts the Danaï            dearly to pay my sorrows.”
   So uttere’d he the word of pray’r; and bright Apollo heard him.
 
[The formatting of the above passage does not correspond exactly with the printed layout of the lines in the published book.]

REVIEW COMMENT

Newman’s translation is surely one of the oddest ever attempted by any English writer. For some reason, as he explains in the introduction to his translation, Newman concluded that “the English metre fitted to translate Homer’s hexameter must be a long line composed of two short ones, having each either three or four beats” (vi) and that “a series of trials showed that it was best to compose the line of four beats added to three” (vii).  His argument for the necessity of this odd (and decidedly unfamiliar) verse form is not very convincing. In the same introduction, Newman comments “I ought to be quaint; I ought not to be grotesque” (x). Clearly he had some trouble sorting out the difference.  

Of interest to students of English literature is the fact that this translation is one of the main inspirations for Matthew Arnold’s essays on translating Homer. Of Newman’s translation Arnold remarked: “Mr. Newman joins to a bad rhythm so bad a diction that it is difficult to distinguish exactly whether in any given passage it is his words or his measure which produces a total impression of such an unpleasant kind” (qu. in Young 129).

Newman wrote a long answer to Arnold’s scathing criticism. The text is accessible here: Response.

 To access the full text of the Newman translation, please use the following link: Newman Iliad.

[List of Published English Translations of Homer]