Murray writes in prose, so his lines follow no fixed beat. Merrill uses dactylic hexameter, the meter of the Greek original, which produces a longer, more rolling English line. The difference is immediate at the opening: Murray gives "that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans," a compact clause; Merrill gives "ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions," a line shaped to fit the meter. Murray's register runs toward formal Victorian diction, "bourgeons" and "consorteth" in the leaves and Athena passages, but avoids obvious archaisms elsewhere. Merrill's diction is more even across the poem, aiming at a contemporary elevated register without period markers. The metrical constraint occasionally pushes his word order into inversion: "sing from the time when first stood hostile" reorganizes the syntax in ways plain prose does not require. Murray's prose prioritizes readability and fidelity to the content of each line. He moves quickly and rarely stumbles, though phrases like "a full-wrought bane, a renegade" in the Athena passage carry some stiffness. Merrill's hexameter is a scholarly commitment: he reproduces the line count of the Greek and attempts to carry the oral, performative texture of the poem, the sense that it was composed to be heard. The Achilles speech in Book 9 shows this well. Murray gets the meaning across cleanly; Merrill's "death's finality" for the Greek "telos" is a deliberate choice to carry the word's weight, at the cost of some naturalness. A reader who wants to move through the story without friction will find Murray easier. A reader interested in how the poem sounds as a performed, rhythmic whole will get more from Merrill.
The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus' son, Achilles, that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans, and sent forth to Hades many valiant souls of heroes, and made them themselves spoil for dogs and every bird; thus the plan of Zeus came to fulfillment, from the time when first they parted in strife Atreus' son, king of men, and brilliant Achilles.
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.