The Iliad of Homer

Whether a translation of HOMER may be best executed in blank verse or in rhyme, is a question in the decision of which no man can find difficulty, who has ever duly considered what translation ou­ght to be, or who is in any degree practically acqu­ainted with those very different kinds of versificati­on. I will venture to assert that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme, is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sen­se of his original. The translator’s ingenuity, inde­ed, in this case becomes itself a snare, and the re­adier he is at invention and expedient, the more likely he is to be betrayed into the widest depar­tures from the guide whom he professes to follow.