Both translations are in verse, but they handle line length and register differently. Mitchell writes longer, more expansive lines and aims for a contemporary American idiom. His opening, "The rage of Achilles, sing it now, goddess, sing through me," is direct and pushes the goddess's role forward with urgency. Jordan writes tighter, more compressed lines. His opening, "Sing, goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles' anger," keeps the Greek word order closer and sounds slightly more formal. In the Book 6 leaves passage, Mitchell adds "Men come and go" as an interpretive line with no Greek equivalent, while Jordan cuts straight to "Clans of men are like foliage on trees" and stops earlier, leaving out the generational application Mitchell spells out. Mitchell prioritizes reading fluency and emotional impact over line-by-line fidelity. He adds interpretive phrases and occasionally paraphrases. In Book 5, he gives Athena the address "Joy of my heart, Diomedes," which has no counterpart in the Greek; Jordan gives the plainer "You please me, Diomedes." Jordan stays closer to the Greek syntax and content throughout, including details Mitchell removes, such as the specific timing of death at "dawn or noon or dusk" in Book 21, which Mitchell cuts entirely. Jordan's version reads as more faithful to the structure and sequence of the original. Mitchell's version reads more easily aloud and in a single sitting, with fewer demands on the reader's patience for Homeric repetition and formality.
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.
Sing, goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles' anger,
ruinous, that caused the Greeks untold ordeals,
consigned to Hades countless valiant souls,
heroes, and left their bodies prey for dogs
or feast for vultures. Zeus's will was done
from when those two first quarreled and split apart,
the king, Agamemnon, and matchless Achilles.