William Broome


William Broome was an English poet and translator. He was born in Haslington, near Crewe, Cheshire and died in Bath.

Education

He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, entered the Church, and became rector of Sturston in Suffolk, and later Pulham in Norfolk and Eye in Suffolk.

Translations

Broome translated the Iliad in prose along with others, and was employed by Alexander Pope, whom he excelled as a Greek scholar, in translating the Odyssey, of which he Englished the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, and 23rd books, catching the style of his master so exactly as almost to defy identification, and thus annoying him so as to earn a niche in The Dunciad. He also translated the Odes of Anacreon.
He published verses of his own of very moderate poetical merit. He became friendly with a younger poet whom Pope admired, Joseph Thurston.