Both Alexander and Merrill write in verse, but their line lengths and word choices pull in different directions. Alexander tends toward shorter, more direct lines with contemporary diction. Her opening gives "Wrath, sing, goddess" and her Book 21 passage has the plain, almost spoken "Come friend, you die too; why bewail this so?" Merrill writes in hexameter, matching Homer's own meter, which produces longer and often more crowded lines. His Book 21 has "No, friend, you die also, and why in this way are you moaning?" The difference in rhythm is audible: Alexander's lines land harder and faster, while Merrill's carry more syllables and a heavier formal beat. Neither translation reaches for archaic diction, but Merrill's syntax is occasionally inverted to fit the meter, as in "so am I now to you a supporter and helper" from Book 5. Alexander is a classicist, and her translation stays close to the Greek word order and phrasing without trying to reproduce Homer's meter in English. The Book 9 passage keeps the parallel structure of the two fates, "my return home is lost" and "outstanding glory will be lost," clean and uncluttered. What she gives up is the formal weight that meter provides. Merrill aims at performing the poem aloud in English hexameters, and his Book 6 leaves passage, "burgeoning, sprouts at the coming of springtime," shows how the meter can add solemnity and forward movement. What he gives up is economy: the hexameter sometimes forces extra words, like "death's finality" repeated twice in Book 9, which Homer uses once. A reader who wants to hear the poem read aloud will find Merrill's approach useful; a reader who wants to follow the argument of a speech may find Alexander's lines easier to track.
Wrath—sing, goddess, of the ruinous wrath of Peleus' son Achilles,
that inflicted woes without number upon the Achaeans,
hurled forth to Hades many strong souls of warriors
and rendered their bodies prey for the dogs,
for all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished;
sing from when they two first stood in conflict—
Atreus' son, lord of men, and godlike Achilles.
Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus,
ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions;
many the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades,
those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made of their bodies,
plunder for all of the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished—
sing from the time when first stood hostile, starting the conflict,
Atreus' scion, the lord of the people, and noble Achilles.