One reason I signed on for it at all is that I'd been getting frustrated by what's become the norm: of translating this very metrical Greek poetry, entirely gorgeous and musical, into English poetry without a meter. And then the idea that you have to impose a supposedly "epic" style on it. I felt something different was needed. Many translations, to my ear, are not paying attention to the way it sounds. A lot of the time I was reading the original aloud, and then read my own draft aloud, and I'd stop whenever I found I wasn't being true to the poem rhythmically or musically. The original has so much fluidity in rhythm, sound, pacing, speeding up, slowing down. My job isn't to reproduce that but to engage with it, pay attention to it. As for iambic pentameter, I found I sometimes kicked against the rules — but I also loved having the rules, having five strong beats in a line. Since I knew that ahead of time, I was forced to find solutions I wouldn't have found otherwise.