Fagles writes in free verse with longer, driving lines that carry a strong forward momentum. His diction sits in a high but contemporary register, and he sometimes adds dramatic force that the Greek does not explicitly supply. In Book 1, his opening word is "Rage" standing alone, which front-loads the emotional charge before the sentence even forms. In Book 21, he gives Achilles "Come, friend, you too must die," where the word "friend" carries bitter irony. Wilson uses shorter, more evenly measured lines and a cleaner, more restrained register. Her opening moves the invocation to the goddess first: "Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath." Her Book 21 has Achilles say "So die, my friend," achieving a similar irony in fewer syllables and with less rhetorical buildup around it. Fagles prioritises emotional performance and oral delivery, which means his translation reads well aloud and builds sustained dramatic pressure across long passages. The cost is occasional inflation: in Book 5, Athena calls Ares a "manic, born for disaster, double-dealing, lying two-face god," where the piling of terms goes beyond what the Greek holds. Wilson stays closer to the Greek word count and syntax. Her Book 5 Athena calls Ares a "shapeshifter" who "was made for trouble, violent, and aggressive, and insane," which is compact and accurate without the extra rhetorical heat. Wilson gives up some of Fagles's raw energy in exchange for fidelity to the original's structure. The leaves simile in Book 6 shows this clearly: Fagles gives it five lines with visible flourish; Wilson keeps it tighter, four lines, with no added imagery.
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.
Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath
of great Achilles, son of Peleus,
which caused the Greeks immeasurable pain
and sent so many noble souls of heroes
to Hades, and made men the spoils of dogs,
a banquet for the birds, and so the plan
of Zeus unfolded—starting with the conflict
between great Agamemnon, lord of men,
and glorious Achilles.