Merrill, a classicist, renders the whole Iliad in English dactylic hexameter, matching the Greek line for line. The result has a distinct rolling six-beat pulse: "Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus." Diction stays elevated but mostly current, with some old-fashioned touches ("scion," "doomsday," "single-hoofed horses") and compound epithets kept intact ("Thetis of silvery feet," "bright-eyed Athena"). Merrill preserves Homer's formulaic repetitions rather than varying them for English taste, so the same phrases recur as they do in Greek. The meter forces some inversions and stretched phrasing ("twofold fates to my death's finality bear me") that can feel stiff on a first read but reward reading aloud. Best for readers who want to hear Homer's rhythm in English and do not mind a formal surface.
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.