Peter Green's and Anthony Verity's translations of the Iliad both strive for accuracy and readability, yet they offer distinct styles and interpretations that reflect the translators' choices and sensibilities. In Green's translation, there is a noticeable emphasis on the visceral and raw aspects of the epic. For example, in Book 1, Green uses phrases like "calamitous wrath" and "valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs," which highlight the devastation and gravity intrinsic to Achilles' anger. Green's language often feels more immediate and intense, as seen when Athena encourages Diomedes; Green describes Ares as a "raving madman" and a "sick piece of work," capturing the impulsive nature of the gods with vivid descriptors. Anthony Verity's translation, on the other hand, tends to employ a more traditional and measured style. Verity's choice of words, like "accursed anger" in Book 1, invokes a formal tone that may resonate with readers familiar with classic literary styles. His translation of Athena's speech in Book 5 refers to Ares as a "crazed god" and a "shape formed of evil," conveying the same ideas as Green's translation but with a slightly more reserved touch. In both translations of Book 6's metaphor about leaves and mankind, the thematic inevitability of death is retained, yet Verity frames it with a greater sense of cyclical continuity, such as "the forest breaks into bud," which aligns with the idea of renewal. Both translators maintain the epic's core themes, yet their individual styles offer readers different emotional and narrative experiences.
Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus's son's
calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians with countless ills—
many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs,
souls of heroes, their selves1 left as carrion for dogs
and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled
from the first moment those two men parted in fury,
Atreus's son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.
SING, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son,
the accursed anger which brought the Achaeans countless
agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades,
causing them to become the prey of dogs and
all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled.
Sing from the time the two men were first divided in strife—
Atreus' son, lord of men, and glorious Achilles.