[Alexander Pope by Leslie Stephen]@TWC D-Link book
Alexander Pope

CHAPTER III
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The conditions of a satisfactory translation of Homer have been amply canvassed, and many experiments have been made by accomplished poets who have what Pope certainly had not--a close acquaintance with the original, and a fine appreciation of its superlative beauties.

From the point of view now generally adopted, the task even of criticism requires this double qualification.

Not only can no man translate Homer, but no man can even criticize a translation of Homer without being at once a poet and a fine classical scholar.

So far as this is true, I can only apologize for speaking at all, and should be content to refer my readers to such able guides as Mr.Matthew Arnold and the late Professor Conington.

And yet I think that something remains to be said which has a bearing upon Pope, however little it may concern Homer.
We--if "we" means modern writers of some classical culture--can claim to appreciate Homer far better than the contemporaries of Pope.


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