The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

ciseness and euphony resulting from the Greek
declensions, interpose other obstacles in the
way of spirited translation. Our blank verse,
also, notwithstanding Milton's glorious achieve
ments in it, is felt, by almost all persons, to be
too cold for the language of poetical emotion.
In saying so we do not forget the harmony
which it received from Akenside, as well as
the popularity of Thomson and Cowper's per-
formances. On the other hand, our recog-
nised heroic verse, as employed by Pope in
his version of the " is felt to weary by
its monotonous tinkling, and to want the
deep-toned sound requisite for epic utter-
ances. Racine and the French tragedians
have even less of the elinquant than " Pope's
Homer," on account of the laws of French
verse requiring a succession of mute cadences
at the end of the alternate couplets. Possibly
a less mechanical construction than Pope
employed would compromise the difficulty
between the ,jingling monotony of our penta-
meters, and the stiffness of our blank verse.

Mr. Barter has chosen the Spenserian stanza
for his " metrical " version of the " Iliad."
For such a choice there is nothing to plead
but the harmony of its cadences. But it is
obviously fitted only for picturesque or con-
templative poetry, and its characteristic lan-
guor renders it unsuited to an epic, where
rapid action and violent contrasts with pas-
sionate characters are everywhere presented.
Of all stanzas, also, the Spenserian must be
written with the strictest attention to euphony;
and Mr. Barter has no ear for poetical sounds.
Before commencing his work he did not prac-
tise his powers in writing verse. In the
histrionic profession, when an artist attempts
special parts, it is necessary that he must
first be a genuine actor and thoroughly versed
in stage business. So translators should be
skilled in the use of the poetical language of
their own tongues before essaying land
give
versions of classical poets.

In recording our emphatic disapproval of
the present performance, we are obliged to
recollect the first and last pages of the vo-
lume. Mr. Barter tells us in his preface :
The following, then, is offered as the most literal me-
trical English version of the Iliad hitherto published, and
certainly the most literal in rhyme. • • • • That
he has always succeeded it would be vain to assert ; but he
can conscientiously declare that he has never swerved
without a feeling of discomfort proportioned to the stre-
nuous efforts he has always made to avoid the necessity.
And this constant endeavour, he ventures to flatter him-
self, has been attended with at least this result, that a
closer version has been produced than the reader would,
perhaps, at hearing of a rhymed translation, have expected.
But a poem may be rhymed without melody,
as verses may scan without smoothness. His
version is wholly deficient in sweetness, be-
sides abounding in several defects of con-
struction. We regret being obliged to say so
when we meet the following pathetic postscript
to this laboriously-composed volume :
My task is ended, and the looking back upon it seems
like the retrospect of a life ; not for the space it covers, for
some six years, reckoning back from the 28th of April,
1813, when toe last stanza was written, would suffice for
that; but from the recollections that crowd within it : with
all of which is associated one, who is now no mote, and in
whose society it was for the most part composed. To her
solicitude it is owing that this work, as it now stands, and
which seems to me as her property, was ready for press,
even to the transcription of all but the few last notes, when
she was taken from me. To the task of publication,
which now seems a melancholy duty, as carrying out her
wishes, I address myself, but with feelings how different
from those with which the work was begun! But I have
felt it a duty, and its discharge in this case, as in most
others, has not been without its benefit, for the mechanical
labour of passing it through the press, at a time when I
am not ashamed to confess myself to have been little fit
for any higher occupation, has beguiled some heavy hours
and heavy thoughts. And now it is done, I look to the re-
sult with very mingled sentiments, ns one who feels that
on this side the grave he shall see no more that face which
would have brightened at its success, and which its failure,
on the other hand, can now no longer cloud.
We respect these feelings, but we must
express our surprise at one of Mr. Barter's
lingual accomplishments, to whom the Italian
tongue is known, asking readers to approve
of the constant cacophony and harsh con-
struction in this translation. Take, for ex-
ample, his mode of rendering the opening
lines of the fifth book of the " Iliad." :
And then to Plumed Tydides gave
Pallas Athene strength and might that be
I)istinguish'd far above all Argives brave
lie should, and win renown exceudingly.

SATURDAY,

And kindled from his helm and buckler she
Unresting tire. E'en as th' autumnal star,
That wash'd in ocean showeth lustrously,
Such fire from head and shoulders gleaming far
She lit; and drove him where they fought iu th►ck of war.
These lines cannot be accepted as "metrical"
in any but the lowest sense, and the gram-
matical construction does not accord with
either Greek or English. But the next
stanza is infinitely worse:—
Was 'rnongst the Trojans Dares, blameless, rich,
Priest of Ilephaistos he. His sons were twain
Hight Phegeus and blteus, skilful each
In tight. These, leaving then their folk, were fain
On him make onset. From their car maintain

The contest they, he ou the ground on foot.
When rushing on they nigh each other been
Then Phegeus first the long-shade spear sent out
Which o'er Tydides' shoulder pass'd, and smote him not.
Our readers will cry " Hold, enough!" for
we are sorry to say that these stanzas only too
faithfully represent the qualities of the whole
translation. Even the must common rules of
rhyme are neglected by Mr. Barter. In the
last line of the foregoing stanza he offers
'• not" as a rhyme for " out," and takes similar
liberties elsewhere. A well-known passage in
the fourth book is thus rendered :

When these then rushing on in one place met
Then shields, and spears, and might of mail•clad men
Together dash'd, and bossy bucklers set
Against each other hurtled. Rose the din
And shout, and moan, of slaying and of slain,
And earth ran blood. As torrents rushing down
The hills their headlong flood do mid•vale join
In hollow bed, from mighty fluwings grown;
Afar the shepherd in the mountains hears the sown.
The last line would puzzle any reader, and
Mr. Barter's explanation does not justify the
use of the word " sown." In a note he quotes
Chaucer :
"And through thy dronken nose seemeth the soun."
But Chaucer cannot be accepted for " sown,"
as spelt and used by Mr. Barter, even if a
writer of the ago of Queen Victoria was at
liberty to use obsolete words. Even as a literal
translation this version fails in many places.
Thus, in the parting between Hector and
Andromache, we have these lines given as a
rendering of the passage where Andromache
is represented as smiling through her tears :
He said, and child t' his wife's hands gave, who him
T' her fragrant breast receiv'd and laugh'd so drear.
The words " laugh'd so drear " utterly fail
to convey any idea of the tender pathos of the
original.
The notes to this work exhibit extensive
reading, and Mr. Barter might more profitably
employ his knowledge than on subjects re-
quiring poetical accomplishments.