Merrill writes in dactylic hexameter, the meter of the Greek original, and his lines are long, sometimes awkward with it: "For my own mother, the goddess Thetis of silvery feet, has" from Book 9 stretches to fit the pattern, and the diction stays formal throughout, with constructions like "lost is my homeward return" that read as studied and archaic. Reck writes in shorter free verse, and his register shifts noticeably by passage. In Book 21 he gives Achilles "why whimper?" where Merrill has "why in this way are you moaning?" Reck's line is faster and more contemporary, occasionally colloquial. In the Book 1 opening, Merrill's "ruinous rage" and Reck's "maniac rage" both reach for force, but Merrill's longer line distributes the weight across more syllables, while Reck compresses it. Merrill's stated priority is metrical fidelity: he reproduces the hexameter in English, which keeps the poem's pacing close to what an oral performance in Greek would have felt like. The cost is that English hexameter often sounds stiff, and some lines have to be padded to hold the count. Reck appears more focused on immediate readability. In the Book 5 passage, his Athena calls Ares "that crook, that lunatic, that renegade," which has energy but removes the specific Homeric epithets Merrill preserves: "perfected in evil, a treacherous turncoat." Reck's Book 6 leaves simile drops the structural repetition of the Greek, while Merrill's version keeps the parallel phrasing "one generation of men grows up as another is fading," which echoes the original's movement more closely.
Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus,
ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions;
many the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades,
those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made of their bodies,
plunder for all of the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished—
sing from the time when first stood hostile, starting the conflict,
Atreus' scion, the lord of the people, and noble Achilles.
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.