Murray writes in a formal, somewhat archaic prose that keeps distance between the reader and the text. His Book 1 opening, "that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans," preserves the heavy, noun-heavy structure of the Greek. Rouse works in a plainly contemporary register. His "An angry man — There is my story" is a sharp, spoken announcement that drops the invocation of the Muse almost entirely. The contrast shows most clearly in Book 5: where Murray gives "a full-wrought bane, a renegade," Rouse gives "that graven image of wickedness, Mr. Facing-all-ways." Murray's sentences run long and subordinate clauses pile up; Rouse cuts them short and lets dialogue sound like speech. Murray stays close to the Greek syntax and keeps its epithets, so a reader gets "silver-footed Thetis" and "flashing-eyed Athene" intact. The trade-off is readability: the Book 9 passage on glory reads as a formal statement rather than a young soldier's calculation about his own death. Rouse removes most epithets and reorders sentences to follow English word order. His Book 21 Achilles, "Don't you see me too, a fine big man?", sounds immediate where Murray's version sounds composed. Rouse said he aimed at the register of a good adventure story read aloud; Murray aimed at scholarly accuracy. A reader who wants to study Homer's epithets and structure will find Murray more useful; a reader who wants momentum will find Rouse easier to stay with.
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.
An angry man—There is my story: The bitter rancour of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host. Many a strong soul it sent down to Hadês, and left the heroes themselves a prey to dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfilment.
It began first of all with a quarrel between my lord King Agamemnon of Atreus' line and the Prince Achillês.