Works every time
by paisleyandplaid on April 17, 2008
Originally posted at: http://paisleyandplaid.wordpress.com/
tags: allusion, atwood, modern poetry, poetry, siren song,Leave a comment
Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” is a short poem that takes Homer’s original Sirens from the myth and gives one of them a modern voice. Recall that Odysseus’s men tie him to the ship preventing his hearing the irresistable song of the Sirens, which lead to a listener’s death.
In a sarcastic but world-weary tone ("Alas") the Siren/speaker is talking to a potential victim. He is listening and therefore cannot resist: he has heard the song. But what is this song? Notice how the Siren leads her victim down the slippery slope of flattery and damsel-in-distress cajoling to achieve her purpose. She whines about her outfit, her companions (there were three Sirens often depicted as birds,) and her desires to flee. He falls like a rock. She finds the process effective, but boring. She is used to seeing men leap overboard “in squadrons” to get to her. It’s her life.
Atwood may be saying that the seduction process is so certain that it’s “boring.” And even though there are the “bleached skulls on the beach,” the happy candidate slated for death marches on to the lyrical song of the Siren, symbolic, of course, of the archetypal lure of the deadly female—the femme fatale.
Here’s a link. Give this one a read.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/siren-song/
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