Lattimore writes in a loose, expansive free verse that stretches lines well beyond standard English meter, aiming to reproduce something of Homer's dactylic rhythm in English without forcing rhyme. His diction sits in a formal, slightly archaic register: "the live timber / burgeons with leaves again" (Book 6) keeps a ceremonial distance from everyday speech. Green works in verse with shorter, more clipped lines and a contemporary register. Where Lattimore gives "my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting" (Book 9), Green writes "I'll lose my homecoming, but gain imperishable renown," which is flatter in sound but quicker to parse. Green also marks long vowels with macrons on Greek names, a typographical choice that signals his scholarly priorities even before a reader reaches the text. Lattimore, writing in 1951, aimed to keep the oral, formulaic feel of the Greek: repeated epithets stay intact, word order sometimes follows the Greek closely, and the lines accumulate weight through length. The cost is occasional awkwardness in English. Green, working sixty years later, is willing to cut some of the formulaic repetition in favor of readability. In Book 21, Lattimore gives Achilles "how huge, how splendid," which is stately; Green gives "how handsome and tall I am," which is blunter and more immediate. A reader who wants the poem to feel ancient and ceremonial will find Lattimore's choices consistent with that; a reader who wants the speeches to move fast and feel spoken will find Green's approach easier to follow.
Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus
and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood in division of conflict
Atreus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.
Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus's son's
calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians with countless ills—
many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs,
souls of heroes, their selves1 left as carrion for dogs
and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled
from the first moment those two men parted in fury,
Atreus's son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.