Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” Interpretation In the Greek mythology and in Homer’s Odyssey, the Sirens are featured as a trio of monsters who are known to drown sailors with their song. The sailors, lured by the Siren’s beautiful singing, jump off their ship and eventually drown, drift to shore, and then get consumed by the monsters. Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” talks from the perspective of one of the sirens - which one, we do not know - and develops the character and personality of the Siren, giving a commentary about masculinity and heroism as well. The Sirens have always been seen as monsters in literature and usually the Sirens are featured as a group, not individually. Margaret Atwood uses the freedom as a writer to make this poem
Many say that their singing talent could calm the winds. Their singing lured in sailors into their death. Many sailors were left to suffer on the island while the Sirens lured in more sailors to capture.Ways of killing the sailors would vary depending on the size of the ship. If the ship was a decent size the Sirens would send the ship in the direction of rocky shores. If the ship was bigger than the Sirens would send them sailing into high cliffs or mountains.
They resist the song and escape with their lives. An artist and a writer take this story and describe it as an image of temptation, weakness, and strength. In the painting Ulysses and the Sirens, John William Waterhouse uses the image of the Sirens attempting to lure the men to show that people need to recognize weakness and find ways to be
The Sirens are portrayed differently in Homer’s The Odyssey and Atwood’s “Siren Song.” Their use of diction is eloquently written with different tones and point of view. With this, they deliver two stories of the Sirens. In The Odyssey, tone is extremely critical. Written in Odysseus’ point of view, the Sirens are creatures set to kill sailors. His frantic tone sets the image of the Sirens being monsters and villainous.
In Greek society, there are many valued characteristics of the hero Odysseus which are still valued today. These traits may not be as important in today’s modern world, but there is no doubt that Odysseus is an epic hero. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus proves that he is an epic hero through divine intervention in the Call, where he blinds Polyphemus in the Challenges, and the Atonement, where he goes through a transformation. Odysseus reveals the help of the gods as he plots with Telemachus against the suitors who are plaguing his home to take back what is rightfully his in the Call. Odysseus says “...and Athena’s inspiration spurred me here, now, so we could plan the slaughter of our foes.
Greek mythology can be viewed as a mirror to the ancient Greek civilization. Ancient Greek myths and legends often reflected how the Greeks saw themselves. Myths were used by Greeks to make justifications of every existing aspect of earth as well as their own society. In myths, Greek gods & heroes often represented key aspects of the human civilization. From Greek mythology, we can learn about the favorable characteristics of humans, such as their behavior and valuable skills that were approved of by the ancient Greek society.
What sirens offer is the deadly song to the men, and what men perceive is the allure of the siren. The “fatal” side of the trio is the song produced by the three sirens on the island apparently causes the death of the men. But to the siren, the song is the thing she can only produce, and this only means of communication becomes the sole approach she calls for help for release, which is valuable to her. The paradox of deaths of mortals and the wish of salvation exists throughout the whole poem. Metaphorically, such paradox blurs the motivation of the siren, because the siren wants to get help from the sailors, and what baffles most is whether the siren gives sailors death out of true
The idea that sirens are intoxicating but indesirable is continued in “Sirens Song” by the band, Miss May I. A section of the first stanza reads “A harlot caught his eye/ Over the queen he had/ the queen by her side”(Miss May I). These three lines would indicate that the ‘queen’ is the speaker and the ‘harlot’ is a woman competing with her for a man. The ‘queen’s’ pain is expressed when she says “Oh what a siren can do to a man with open ears”(Miss May I). Connecting the dots, the poem is about a man that was with a woman, but was ensnared by another woman.
In the story of the Odyssey, Odysseus is a hero that goes through numerous obstacles in order to reclaim his family and throne. Odysseus had to fight many monsters and complete countless tasks in order to finally achieve his goal. In Greek myths, this is a very well known form of a story told by many ancient Greek poets called epic poems. In these tales, there are intense adventures with heroic deeds and events that are significant to their culture told in a narrative poem. The Odyssey is a Greek myth, showing clear signs of an epic poem because of the invocation of the muse, beginning in medias res, and a larger than life hero.
This essay explores the ambivalence of siren’s intention in the poet ‘Siren Song’. Besides, techniques like enjambment and anaphora are involved in composing this poet to give readers a sense of suspense of the siren’s eagerness to acquire salvation. The use of monologue in this poem shapes a paradoxical theme, which makes the siren’s motivation blurry. In the context, the poem uses the word “song” three times in the first lines of three stanzas. The beginning stanzas are monologues of the siren.