Beginning with a lengthy list of all the soldiers who died in the Trojan War, Oswald quickly lays out her purpose in this translation. Death and the awful realities of war are the consistent emphasis of the epic poem. While some soldiers are given brief biographies or explanations of their deaths, other are merely listed. Oswald strips the narrative away from Homer's account in order to leave a buoyant interplay between death and action.
In an attempt to make the names feel more real, like people we know, Oswald offers some interpretation of their lives. For Protesilaus, death was momentary and sudden, despite his having resigned his command to his brother in anticipation of the threat. Iphidamas hails from a pastoral people and was recently married when he left for war. His brother, Coon, witnessed his corpse and lost his mind. Both were killed by Agamemnon.
Oswald hones in upon the heroes no more than the other soldiers, except perhaps to relay familiar details of their personal lives. For example, Hector is painted as one who knew he would die. He believed his death was necessary payment for his long-held arrogance. Friends and brothers and distant lovers are all tied together through the bond of death and horror, sometimes ripped apart mid-conversation. The poem concludes with a series of epithets for the dead, loosely related to waste and regret.
