Newman and Homer

 Newman and Homer

Today we will discuss St. John Henry Newman’s knowledge and use of Homer, the presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, both composed in the last half of the eighth century. Newman deeply appreciated Homer for his masterful epics and for being the founder of the epic tradition. With good reason Newman called Homer “the first Apostle of Civilization” in his chapter on “Christianity and Letters” in the Idea of the University. Without Homer, there would have been no Virgil and no Milton. Greek tragedy would also be fundamentally different, if it existed at all.

A love of Homer came early and naturally for Newman. Newman read widely, but he was particularly skilled in the classical literature of Greece and Rome. At a mere eight years of age he was reading Ovid in the original and had started Greek. At age twelve, he records reading Homer. We can take it for granted that he knew both of the Homeric poems intimately. He recalls the Odyssey in Pope’s translation as his first serious reading as a child, and as a university student he records reading half of the Iliad in the original Greek—no small feat. He loved Pope’s translation of Homer, which he tells his sister Jemima is “the finest body of verse, certainly in this, perhaps in any language” (letter of August 31, 1820; emphasis original).

Newman’s Letters and Diaries reveal a lot about his use of the classics as a student and as a teacher. Newman read a number of major authors, especially Aristotle, the Greek tragedians, the Greek historians, Horace, Virgil, and Livy. Although Aristotle, especially the Nichomachean Ethics, received pride of place in Newman’s teaching, he did realize the importance of Homer. Newman makes an interesting pedagogical observation concerning the author in a letter of July 18, 1825, to Edward Nares. Nares had apparently requested a translation of Homer for his son. As a wise (although still young) teacher, Newman advises Nares not to let his son be dependent on the translation when doing his work: He writes, “I am tempted even at the risk of repetition to caution him [Nares’ son] against a superficial manner of reading Homer. – He must beware of making too frequent use of the translation— If he does more than consult it for the difficult passages after having made every endeavor to ascertain the meaning by lexicon [dictionary] and grammar; or for the sake of satisfying himself that his own rendering is correct, it certainly will be detrimental to his progress.” This is not just Newman’s way of telling the boy not to take the easy way out. Newman shows a realization that to learn a language one must pay attention to the details found in good dictionaries and grammars. It is important to read deeply and carefully, with attention to grammatical structure and nuances of the meanings of words.

But Homer meant much more to Newman than simply an author to use in learning ancient Greek. In looking at his entries in the Letters and Diaries during his Mediterranean Journey, we can see how much he loved Homer’s Odyssey. Newman, traversing much of the sea that would have been traveled by Odysseus, notes his “most deepest attachment to old Homer” (29 Dec. 1832) and refers to him at least seven times. He mentions that he has been rereading the Odyssey on his trip, but notes “yet I needed not this, considering it was the earliest book I ever learned from, as a child (in Pope’s translation)” (16 Jan. 1833). It is clear that he relishes seeing Homer’s landscape firsthand and reliving the stories of his childhood.

Newman’s Homeric references reveal that he followed his own theory in the Idea of the University that all areas of study are important in their own right. He does not dismiss the foundational classics of Greek literature on the grounds that they are pagan and not immediately applicable to the Christian life. Instead he sees the virtue and beauty in characters like Odysseus and Achilles and lovingly includes them in the Christian educational tradition.

Scott Goins

McNeese State University