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John-Nicholas Furst

10/07/08

Siren Essay
Through comparison of tone, diction, and point of view, of “Siren Song”

by Margaret Atwood and “Odyssey” by Homer, contrasting portrayals of the

sirens reveal the hero’s pride in each poem.

“Odyssey” is filled with concrete imagery as is seen in lines 9-11,

“-erect at the mast-block, lashed by ropes to the mast-….” These vivid

images and others come from the pervasive use of nouns. Use of adjectives

such as in the phrase, “my two strong hands” are used to intensify the scene

and build up the heroic tone. In contrast, “Siren Song” has much more

abstract imagery. Compared to the luscious imagery of “Odyssey”, “Siren

Song” has only two main images, the “beached skull” and the “bird suit.”

The skull imagery is brutal and fatal while the “feathery maniac” image is

just ridiculous. However the ridiculousness of the sirens can be tempting to

the pride of a hero who only sees the sirens as damsels in distress who need

saving, even though they truly are deceptive creatures.

The point of view of “Odyssey” is first person, through Odysseus. He is

the protagonist of the poem and recounts through his hero’s perspective as

exemplified in lines 3-5, “Now with a sharp sword I sliced an ample wheel of

beeswax down into pieces….”Odysseus narrates, while making every action

that he performed a heroic one, to save his men from the lure of the sirens.

“Siren Song” is also in first person, but that is where the similarities end; the
piece is through a siren’s perspective. The siren is the antagonist in the

poems and she uses an alluring and self depreciating voice to bring the

listeners in. She allures the audience by depreciating herself by making

references to her ridiculous “bird suit” and then appeals to the hero’s pride

by displaying her helplessness and crying out for help to “Only you, only

you….”

The tone of “Siren Song” is very deceptive. The siren is crying out for

help but we learn in the last lines starting on line 26 that her cry is “a boring

song but it works every time.” She doesn’t truly need help, she is only trying

to appeal to the pride of the hero who will come and save her. The tone of

“Odyssey” is heroic. It portrays the hero Odysseus as strong, brave, and a

man of action.

The hero’s pride comes out in both poems. In “Siren Song” the siren

lures the hero in through his pride. “Odyssey” recounts the pride of a hero

through intensifying and glorifying the hero’s actions and leading the reader

to believe that one day he may be the “pride and glory” of his own city.

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