Two beloved verse Iliads by two poets named Robert, and the choice is really about temperature. Choose Robert Fagles if you want the poem loud, dramatic, and spoken; choose Robert Fitzgerald if you want it lyrical, exact, and beautiful on the line. One thunders; the other sings.
Read Fagles if you want a dramatic, propulsive Iliad built for the voice — the standard first read.
Read Fitzgerald if you read for the beauty of the individual line and don't mind a more elevated, demanding voice.
Robert Fagles (1933–2008) was a Princeton scholar who carried all three great epics into English — the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. His 1990 Iliad (Viking/Penguin), with Bernard Knox's introduction, runs in long, loose, unrhymed lines of roughly six beats, built for grandeur and the speaking voice: a Homer that sounds like a bard performing.
Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985) was an American poet whose translations of Homer and Virgil are landmarks in their own right — his 1961 Odyssey won the first Bollingen Prize for translation, and his Iliad followed in 1974. He wrote a supple, elevated blank verse, exact and musical, and preferred the Greek forms of the names (Akhilleus, Aías, Hektor), keeping the poem's foreignness gently in view. He is the lyric poet's Homer.
Homer's first word is menin, "wrath," and each poet meets it differently.
Fagles opens: "Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, / murderous, doomed…" The blunt monosyllable lands first and hard; the line is direct, theatrical, and immediately gripping. It is Homer as performance.
Fitzgerald opens: "Anger be now your song, immortal one, / Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous…" The inverted syntax — "Anger be now your song" — is elevated and deliberate, the address to the Muse turned into something closer to prayer, and the hero appears in his Greek name. It is Homer as poetry, asking to be read a little more slowly and rewarding it.
So the choice is between two beauties. Fagles is beautiful the way a great performance is beautiful — carried by voice and momentum. Fitzgerald is beautiful the way a great poem is beautiful — carried by the weight and music of the line. Neither is more "Homeric"; the Greek is both dramatic and exquisite, and each poet has chosen his emphasis.
| Robert Fagles | Robert Fitzgerald | |
|---|---|---|
| Form / meter | Free verse, long loose lines (~6 beats) | Blank verse, supple and elevated |
| Tone | Dramatic, spoken, propulsive | Lyrical, exact, musical |
| Names | Familiar forms (Achilles, Ajax) | Greek forms (Akhilleus, Aías) |
| For a first-timer | Very high — gripping and clear | High, but richer and more demanding |
| Read it for | The drama and the voice | The beauty of the line |
| Best read… | Aloud — built for performance | Slowly, savoured |
| Year | 1990 | 1974 |
First-time readers — Fagles. The drama and directness carry you through the battle books; it is the safer first Iliad.
Lovers of poetry — Fitzgerald. If you read for the spell a line can cast, his elevated, musical verse is the one to lose yourself in.
Listeners & reading aloud — Fagles. His rolling lines were built for the voice and carry beautifully spoken.
Returning readers — Fitzgerald. Once you know the shape of the poem, his beauty and his Greek names reward a second, slower pass.
If you're new to the poem, start with our recommended translation and read the short companion first — it makes either version easier to follow.
See our recommended Iliad →
Which is more beautiful, Fagles or Fitzgerald?
Fitzgerald is usually the choice for pure beauty of language — lyrical, exact, and musical. Fagles is grander and more theatrical, beautiful in a spoken, dramatic way. It comes down to whether you want the line to sing or to thunder.
Which is easier to read?
Fagles, for most readers. His diction is more direct and his drama pulls you forward. Fitzgerald is more elevated and uses Greek forms of the names, which asks a little more attention — richly repaid, but a slightly steeper first read.
Which is better for a first read?
Fagles is the more common first Iliad — dramatic, clear, and paired with Knox's introduction. Choose Fitzgerald first if you care most about the poetry of the line and are happy to read more slowly.