The question from Mel reminds me of what Owen Barfield says in Poetic Diction. That earlier language is inherently more poetic, but as language advances it tends to become more detailed and specific which leads it to be less poetic.
The best scene in the Iliad is Book V when Diomedes goes against Ares followed by the end of Book VI when Hector, his wife Andromache, and baby son Astynax are on the walls of the city together overlooking the battlefield. This is the last time Hector will see either.
"Jove," he cried, "grant that this my child may be even as myself, chief among the Trojans; let him be not less excellent in strength, and let him rule Ilius with his might. Then may one say of him as he comes from battle, 'The son is far better than the father.'"
