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Siren's Song

            Though these passages talk of the same luring song, they portray it differently because of the different points of view used. This difference is shown through the different imagery and tones of each individual passage. Homer's passage produces an exciting effect on the reader, while Atwood's appears to be more pessimistic and explanatory of the siren that lures the shipmen to the island where they will die. Though each passage is different, they both are discussing the same luring song. .
             Homer portrays the siren's song as mysterious and luring, while Atwood looks at them as irresistible and a nuisance. The difference is due to the fact that each passage is written in a different point of view, Homer's being in the first person of a shipman traveling across the enchanted island and Atwood's being the actual song. Homer says that the rowers in his story are physically and mentally strong, rowing hard and resisting the demand that their fellow mate be taken down from the mast. Atwood says that she doesn't like it on the island, saying it is crying for help (while at the same time luring seamen to their death.) At the end, the bird seems almost bored saying that her temptations work every time. As opposed to the end of Homer's passage, where the crew is relieved that they have gotten past the island safely. This difference of attitude toward the song is due to the opposing viewpoints. The song in Atwood's poem would probably be mad at the man in Homer's poem who found a way to not give into the temptation yet still listen the song. .
             Homer's attitude towards the song of the siren is that of a lustful and intrigued one. He understands the crewman's desire to hear the song and thinks him clever to plug the crew's ears with wax so that they don't steer the ship to the death island. He sees the siren's song as majestically and mysterious, as opposed to Atwood who seems to think that the Siren is merely irresistible and bored of it's purpose.


Essays Related to Siren's Song

1. Siren's Song

After extensive analyses and comparison of the poems Odyssey and Siren Song, differences and similarities between the portrayals of the sirens are apparent. In Homer's Odyssey, sirens are described as creatures who sing a beautiful song to seduce and attract men. In Margaret Atwood's Siren Song, the siren is also illustrated as a singing creature with powerful seductions, however it also goes on to say that the life ... focus more on detail, they tell a story and therefore do not conceal an ambiguous meaning. The diction used for the sirens contains ample detail about their song, about how t...

  • Word Count: 1224
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Siren Song By Margarett Atwood

... not "listen to- or "hear- which implies that there is something to be learned. In the mythological story of the Sirens, sailors leap to their deaths as they hear the infamous song. The second stanza highlights the idea that this poem encrypts a message about males. The third line, "even though they see ... the poem. "The beach skulls- is also a synecdoche of the whole beach in which the Sirens rule for they live in seclusion because of their plague. The third stanza shows the results of hearing the Sirens' song. "The song nobody knows/ because anyone who has heard it/ is dead, and others...

  • Word Count: 820
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3. Siren Song

... bewitch everybody who approaches them. There is no home-coming for the man who draws near them unawares...for with their high clear song the Sirens bewitch him, as they sit there in a meadow piled high with the mouldering skeletons of men, whose withered skin still hangs upon ... mythological epic poem by Homer called the "Odyssey." The mythological creatures called sirens sung so beautifully that men couldn't resist them, even though their lives would be taken. Margaret Atwood lures her audience in the poem "Siren Song" by utilizing many literary devices and techniques, which ultimately...

  • Word Count: 1751
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Siren's Song

... or learn more. This is the one song everyone, would like to learn: the song, that is irresistible.? Atwood leaves you feeling curios without any further hint as to the secret ofthe song?. The first section of the poem recounts the sirens and their deadly songs. The sirens inhabited an island in the Aegean and, ... in Greek Mythology, are described as having the body of a bird and the head of a woman. The sirens had such lovely voices that the ... the outcome was certain death. Many will recognize the legendary creatures from the story of Odysseus. The sirens attempted to lure Odysseus a...

  • Word Count: 445
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5. Love Song of J Alfred

Prufrock; an Artist without Passion. A commentary of T.S. Elliots "The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock" In T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Elliot continually writes in the voice of Prufrock, and Prufrock struggles to answer his life's "overwhelming question." (10) With what is J. Alfred Prufrock is so desperately struggling? ... two works is the descending theme. In the Inferno, Dante travels further and further down through the rings of hell on his way up to the heavens. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot starts his description at the skyline slowly works ...

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6. The Odyssey and O Brother, Where art Thou?

... gang and trying to reach Everett's home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist, they are confronted by a series of strange characters. Among them are the Sirens, a Cyclops, bank robber George 'Baby face' Nelson, a campaigning Governor, his opponent, a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob, and a blind prophet, who warns the ... idea of putting melted wax onto the ears of his men (so the Sirens' song is inaudible to them) in order to withstand the enchanting song of the Sirens'. However, Odysseus allows himself to hear this special, enchanting song of the Sirens', only while he is tied to the mast o...

  • Word Count: 967
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Transformation of text:

... help him escape. The good news is that they will find treasure of another sort. Another similarity between the two stories is seen in the beautiful song of the sirens. It attracts the three men in the film, and is dreaded by the men of Ulysses, but just as Ulysses longs to listen to their ... song, Everett and his men are lured by it. And in the same way that Ulysses says he would "gladly have sacrificed my life for the sound of their voices- Pete is caught in a life threatening situation when the Sirens abandon him to the police. Many of the monsters ... help. Just like the underground...

  • Word Count: 3467
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Grade Level: High School

8. A famous epic, now a famous fi

... , The Odyssey, the parallels become apparent. Directly look at the movie and the epic, look at themes, plots, characters, settings, common appearances by The Sirens, and the role of both music in the movie and nature in the novel, and the similarities are obvious. In the movie and the epic, the themes ... captured by the police once again. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men had to sail through the Island where The Sirens dwelled. To prevent being affected by their seductive song they had to stuff their ears with beeswax and tie Odysseus down with ropes, only tying them tighter the more...

  • Word Count: 838
  • Approx Pages: 3
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9. O brother where art thou

... attempting to return to his wife and prevent her from marrying. The most obviously linked in the movie and the Odyssey are the Sirens , and the one eyed Cyclops. Other events which do not compare as strongly as the two events just mentioned include the prophesy ... soothsayer and the scene with "Baby face" George Nelson. Homer's Sirens are similar to the Sirens in the movie. In Homer's Sirens they bewitch him with a song and In O Brother Where Art Thou, the Sirens bewitch Pete with their song, making him stop the car and waded into the River. The ... most outstanding difference betwee...

  • Word Count: 548
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

10. How do Odysseus' Relations with Women Reveal His Character

... of Ithaca. There are three women who especially aid in the revelation of Odysseus' character: Calypso, the goddess who keeps him captive for seven years; the Sirens, a group of demi-goddesses with majestic voices who lure men onto their land and kidnap them forever; and Penelope, his devoted and cunning mortal wife who ... men that "I alone was to hear the voices, so she said- (12.174), as though it is the gods who want him to hear the Sirens. This statement portrays Odysseus as a man who is so proud and arrogant that he superimposes his desires on the gods' desires. Circe merely affirms...

  • Word Count: 979
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

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