Pope writes in heroic couplets, rhymed iambic pentameter, which gives his translation a strong forward pulse and a formal, elevated tone. His diction is archaic in register but deliberately ornate: in Book 9, he compresses Achilles' speech to "Short is my date, but deathless my renown," a line that gains epigrammatic force but is shaped by the demands of rhyme and meter. Murray writes in plain prose, following the Greek sentence order fairly closely. His sentences are long and additive, linked by "and" and "but," as in Book 21: "Patroclus also died, who was better far than thou." The rhythm is flat, sometimes monotonous. Pope sounds like formal English poetry of the early eighteenth century; Murray sounds like a scholarly rendering aimed at clarity over style. Pope treats the Iliad as material for English poetry. He adds, cuts, and rearranges to produce couplets that work on their own terms. In Book 6, the leaves simile reads "Now green in youth, now withering on the ground," a line with no direct equivalent in the Greek, which simply says one generation grows while another passes away. Pope adds the image for poetic effect. Murray stays close to the Greek structure and vocabulary, including the slightly awkward "as it bourgeons," which reflects the Greek word for the flourishing forest. Murray's translation suits a reader who wants to check the Greek or follow the argument line by line. Pope's suits a reader who wants an English poem with its own momentum.
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurled to Pluto's gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,
Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove!
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.