Lattimore writes in a loose six-beat line that tries to match the length and forward roll of Homer's hexameter. His diction is formal and slightly archaic: "hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls / of heroes" keeps the Greek word order and the epithet-heavy texture of the original. Mitchell uses a shorter, more variable line and contemporary speech patterns. His opening, "The rage of Achilles, sing it now, goddess, sing through me," moves the invocation inward, toward a modern speaker's voice. In the leaves passage, Lattimore gives "As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity," which sounds ceremonial. Mitchell gives "Men come and go, just like the leaves in their seasons," which is direct but removes the formal parallel structure Homer sets up. Lattimore published in 1951 after serious classical training and aimed to give English readers something close to the Greek in sound and structure, including its inversions and compound epithets. Mitchell, writing sixty years later, cuts epithets and archaic phrasing throughout. In the Book 21 passage, Lattimore keeps "Yet even I have also my death and my strong destiny," where Mitchell gives "Yet death stands waiting for me / as well," dropping "strong destiny" entirely. Lattimore's version is harder to read aloud smoothly but shows more of the original's rhetorical shape. Mitchell's version reads fast and feels immediate. The reader who wants a text that stays close to Homer's Greek structures will find that in Lattimore. The reader who wants fluency without friction will find that in Mitchell.
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.
The rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing through me
the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief
and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters,
leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs
and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished.
Begin at the time when bitter words first divided
that king of men, Agamemnon, and godlike Achilles.