Chapman writes in rhyming couplets with long, swinging lines that carry a strong forward pull. His register is archaic: "Infinite sorrows on the Greeks, and many brave souls loos'd / From breasts heroic." The diction is formal throughout, and the verse form itself adds weight and ceremony to even short passages. Rouse writes plain prose in a contemporary, occasionally colloquial register. Where Chapman gives "Die, die, my friend. What tears are these?" Rouse gives "Come, my friend, die too; why do you cry like that?" The difference in tone is immediate. Rouse's rhythm follows spoken English; Chapman's follows the demands of his meter. Both are readable, but the experience of reading them is completely different in pace and texture. Chapman's verse form regularly adds material the Greek does not contain. In the Book 6 leaves passage, he expands the image across several lines where Rouse condenses it to two short sentences. Chapman prioritizes performance and rhetorical impact, working within an Elizabethan literary tradition. Rouse prioritizes readability and directness, aiming for ordinary English speech. The gain in Chapman is a reading experience with weight and texture; the loss is that his additions sometimes pull away from the Greek sense. Rouse keeps close to the Greek argument and makes the story move quickly, but his colloquial moments, like "Mr. Facing-all-ways" for Ares in Book 5, trade the formality of the original for an idiomatic punch that some readers will find welcome and others will find jarring.
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.
An angry man—There is my story: The bitter rancour of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host. Many a strong soul it sent down to Hadês, and left the heroes themselves a prey to dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfilment.
It began first of all with a quarrel between my lord King Agamemnon of Atreus' line and the Prince Achillês.