Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Iliad of Homer, Books I-IV: Translated Into English Hexameter Verse
The author of the present attempt would humbly suggest, in reply, that their want of success is mainly due to the fact that a large proportion of the lines that have been written in English, and called hexameters - not only by translators of Homer, but by other writers and poets as well - are not really hexameters at all i.e. They cannot be read as such except by putting a totally wrong and false emphasis on many of the syllables forming the lines.
Now, since accentuation of syllables is the only possible equivalent in English for what is called quantity in Greek or Latin, it follows that any unnatural wresting or straining of the accentuation must necessarily destroy the music and rhythm of the metre, just as false quantities would do in Greek or Latin verse, and thus render its sound unpleasing, rugged and harsh.
The temptation to fall into this error in English, where the accentua tion is entirely a matter of ear, and dependent to a great extent on the exact sense intended, is no doubt very great, and especially so in a translation, where the meaning of the original must be faithfully given.
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