The Poem, Siren Song, by Margaret Atwood The poem “Siren Song” is a poem about one of the three siren sisters of Greek mythology, who has become bored of singing to doomed men. However this siren has cleverly woven her jaded sentiments into the song itself. The poem ‘Siren Song’ is about how men are easily led astray by women even if they can clearly see the consequences of their actions. It is also about how women are looking for someone who can see past their beauty, or in this case their voice. Unfortunately for this siren every man whom she has lured has been the same, which portrays men to be all the same.
Atwood begins her poem with the speaker mysteriously introducing a secret. By writing the "Siren Song" in first person, the reader is shown how the Sirens feel about their song. They know how much people desire to hear their song and they taunt the reader by hinting that they will tell the secret if the reader gets "me out of this bird suit". The song is just a "cry for help" that the birds find "boring", which, if it was written from any other point of view, would not be known about as it is "the song nobody knows". In Homer's Odyssey, the Sirens are mythical creatures whose enchanting voices lure sailors to their deaths.
At the very moment they hear the beautiful, seductive singing the Sirens have weaved their spell upon them. You can tell from the lyrics of the song, Go to sleep little baby; You, Me, and the devil makes three, that the sirens are devious and dangerously seductive, and they’re chugging the gang alcohol, which is slowing makes them fall asleep and turns Pete into a toad. That’s ironic to Circe from “The Odyssey” but instead of getting drugged, Pete was drunk, and not turning into a pig but a toad. The Sirens scene is obvious ironic to Homer’s “The Odyssey” because Odysseus had his men put beeswax in their so they wouldn’t hear the singing. So I think Ulysses and the gang falling under the Siren’s spell helps visualize the outcome if Odysseus hadn’t thought of that smart tactic.
With her beautiful voice she would sing near the shores of the sea and draw in whatever man passed by. As they approached her, Siren would smile at them and look deeply into their eyes. As soon as they were close enough, Siren would savagely attack and eat her hapless victim. This seduction trick always lead to the downfall of her victim, making Siren peerless as far as temptresses as go. The expression "siren" is still used to describe something that is both dangerous and enthralling.
The key word in this quote is “thrilling”. Certainly any man can be transfixed by a “thrilling” seductive female. Imagine several “thrilling” seductive female voices, and what we know of the weak nature of man. I believe that Homer uses these beings to convey that man is completely spellbound, trapped, and facing danger when he gives in to the seductive nature of women. Odysseus wants to hear these songs of the Sirens, and he instructs his crew to tie him to the ship, to block sound from their ears with beeswax, and to tie him tighter if he pleads to be let loose.
Odysseus fits the definition of a Greek epic hero perfectly, and must continue to use his valor as he pushes through his journey. Throughout his journey, Odysseus has to utilize self-control at many times. Odysseus and his crew encounter the Sirens. The Sirens are known to lull mariners to sleep with their sweet music, then climb up on to their ship and kill them. Odysseus has to keep himself and his crew from being lulled to sleep by the Sirens’ singing.
Atwood uses literal imagery in the sentence “Looking picturesque and mythical” (15). A siren is an ancient Greek monster that drew men towards them by singing mesmerizing songs and they also looked like beautiful women. These men, charm spoken by the sirens get eaten as they approach the singing sirens. The author describes them as picturesque and mythical and that is literal imagery, because the sirens are truly like what the author describes as. This is builds towards the theme and is effective because then we can imagine what the sirens looked like and what they truly were at the same time.
In Yeats said“her nape caught in his bill,” reflects the situation that leda was forced to get sexually intimate by the swan. Yeats also described the manliness of swan using the words “great wings,” “dark webs,” “the white rush,” “indifferent beak” and “feathery glory.” the god Zeus was stated as beast. Yeats has represented the whole sexual moment in obscure words. The power of Zeus (swan) over Leda is structured in such a way that it seems an scandalous rape. “how can those terrified vague fingers push”states that as a women how could Leda stop the Zeus (swan)?
Although there is a lot of reference to violent and aggressive behaviour it does not make her hesitant, one could even say she was blinded by her love for him. To his coy mistress is a metaphorical poem, where the speaker addresses a woman who has been slow to respond to his sexual requests. In the first stanza he discusses how he would love constantly for an unlimited amount, if only time was not running out. If he could he would give her everything and anything till death. He quickly begins to mention how short life is even referencing her ‘preserved virginity’ being taken when she’s dead as ‘worms shall try.’ He finishes by focusing on the present and telling her to make the most of the time that they have now, which hints at the use of sexual innuendo.
Titania does not truly feel this way; she only does under the spell of Puck’s trick. This infatuation blinds her and causes her to fall in love with Bottom, then, a human with a donkey’s head. Despite how ridiculous the situation is, it still causes her to be obsessive such that she makes certain Bottom is with her all the time. The infatuation was carefully planned by Puck, who made sure that Bottom would be the first creature Titania sees after he dabs the love-juice on her eyes. Bottom, for the sake of the trick, was unfortunately transformed into a human with an ass’ head.