Fagles writes in free verse with long, energetic lines and a contemporary American register. His diction reaches for urgency: the opening word "Rage" lands as a single blunt punch, and phrases like "lying two-face god" in Book 5 pull the language toward the colloquial. The lines breathe with rhetorical momentum, and Fagles will add words or images not in the Greek to sustain that energy. Alexander also works in verse, but her lines are longer and more evenly measured, staying closer to the Greek line count. Her opening word "Wrath" is more formal than "Rage," and her Book 6 leaves passage ("As a generation of leaves, so is the generation of men") keeps the plain declarative structure of the Greek where Fagles turns it into something more lyrical. Alexander's stated aim was fidelity to the Greek, and the passages bear that out. In Book 9, her Achilles says "my return home is lost, but my glory will be undying," which tracks the Greek clauses almost word for word. Fagles cuts "return home" to a phrase and adds "my pride" to the second half, changing the emotional weight slightly. What Fagles gains is a translation that reads with momentum and rewards being read aloud to an audience unfamiliar with epic poetry. What Alexander gains is precision: a reader who wants to understand what Homer actually arranged on the page, in what order, with what logic, gets more of that from her version. Neither choice is neutral; both shape what the reader receives.
Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
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.