Both translations are in verse, but they handle line length and register differently. Lombardo writes shorter, harder lines, often just a few beats, that feel close to spoken American English. His Achilles tells the pleading Trojan "You die too, friend. Don't take it hard," which is blunt and almost conversational. Reck runs longer, with more syllables per line and a slightly elevated tone. His version of the same moment gives "Yes, my friend, you perish too, why whimper?" The word "whimper" is vivid and contemptuous where Lombardo's "Don't take it hard" is flat and cold. In the Leaves passage, Lombardo writes "Men too. Their generations come and go," a two-sentence fragment that stops short, while Reck closes with "thus men's generations are born and die," a more formally rounded line. Lombardo cuts freely, compressing the Greek to gain speed and punch. His opening drops the full causal chain of the proem, moving from the rage directly to consequences, and his Athena scene trims Athena's reproach of Diomedes from several lines to a quick taunt. The result reads fast and has energy in performance. Reck stays closer to the Greek's syntax and sequence. In the Book 9 passage, Lombardo gives Achilles five plain lines; Reck keeps "silverfoot Thetis" and the phrase "live in decent obscurity," which adds a touch of irony not obvious in the Greek but adds texture. Reck follows the original's structure more carefully; Lombardo follows its emotional logic and edits what he finds redundant.
Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades' dark,
And left their bodies to rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.
Sing, Goddess, Achilles' maniac rage:
ruinous thing! it roused a thousand sorrows
and hurled many souls of mighty warriors
to Hades, made their bodies food for dogs
and carrion birds—as Zeus's will foredoomed—
from the time relentless strife came between
Atreus' son, a king, and brave Achilles.