Chapman writes in rhymed couplets with long fourteener lines, and his diction sits in early modern English. Phrases like "that invisible cave / That no light comforts" (Book 1) carry archaic weight, and constructions such as "rarely magnified" (Book 21) require a reader willing to pause and decode. The verse imposes its own rhythm on Homer's Greek, sometimes padding a line to close a rhyme. Rieu writes prose in a register that stays close to educated mid-twentieth-century English. "That mad, double-dealing delinquent" (Book 5) is noticeably colloquial, almost casual. His sentences vary in length but move forward without metrical pressure. The two texts feel like different centuries, because they are. Chapman aims at something ceremonial and rhetorical. He expands and comments: in Book 9, he adds "t'were foolish pride, t'abridge my life for praise," a moral gloss with no equivalent in the Greek. That addition shows a translator who treats the text as material for interpretation. Rieu stays close to the narrative line and removes Chapman's elaborations. His version of Book 6's leaves passage, "one generation grows, the other fades," is direct and complete without excess. He was producing a Penguin Classics edition aimed at general readers with no Greek, and that priority shows: the story moves, the speeches are clear. Chapman was writing for readers who expected verse to do rhetorical work, and his text reflects that expectation throughout.
Achilles' baneful wrath resound, O Goddess, that impos'd
Infinite sorrows on the Greeks, and many brave souls loos'd
From breasts heroic; sent them far to that invisible cave
That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave:
To all which Jove's will gave effect; from whom first strife begun
Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis' godlike son.
Anger — sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that accursed anger, which brought the Greeks endless sufferings and sent the mighty souls of many warriors to Hades, leaving their bodies as carrion for the dogs and a feast for the birds; and Zeus' purpose was fulfilled. It all began when Agamemnon lord of men and godlike Achilles quarrelled and parted.