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Comparing The Sirens In Homer's Odyssey And Siren Song

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These passages describe an encounter with the same mythical creatures, but reflect a different portrayal of the Sirens.Homer’s Odyssey depicts the Sirens as beautiful but menacing beasts that desire to charm sailors with their alluring voices to their awaiting destruction. Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song,” however, presents them as practically mortal beings and place all fault on the male’s stupidity other than their seductive call. Through a variation in the use of tone,point of view, and irony, Homer and Atwood express the captivating strength of the Sirens.

The Sirens embody the feminine take on a “seductress,” personifying a gorgeous creature whose aspiration is to induce masculine victims to their demise. Atwood …show more content…

Homer lays out his tale of Odysseus’ experience with the Sirens from Odysseus’ perspective of the situation.Odysseus’ perspective of the Sirens is that they are enticing creatures who he wishes to follow as he hears their delightful chorus. Book 12 of the Odyssey, Odysseus cries out “I signaled the crew with frowns to set me free— they flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder, Perimedes and Eurylochus springing up at once to bind me faster with rope on chafing rope,”(Homer, Odyssey). In Odysseus’ eyes the Sirens seem ravishing and desirable. Atwood’s “Siren Song,” is from the position of a member of the Siren clan who does not enjoy singing in this trio. This member expresses these feelings by stating it plainly, “I don’t enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical with these two feathery maniacs I don’t enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable.” This affiliate validates her stance on her clique via expressing her true feelings on being associated with them, from the island life to the life of being a trickster, proclaiming to not enjoy the

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Some of the things in the text are similar, but some things are absent within the text. In “The Odyssey”, the Sirens are not bird-like, there is no skulls and bodies laying around everywhere, and nobody on the boat is killed(Homer). “O’Brother, Where Art Thou?” removes the ocean setting, Odysseus heroism, and the men having wax in their ears. Within the stanzas of the poem “Siren Song”, the story lacks the men and Odysseus, the heroism of Odysseus, and the men “fall for it everytime” (Atwood). Authors of these stories removed these things so that their more appealing to the eye.

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Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek epic poem, introduces mythological creatures, like the sirens, to an audience that becomes highly influenced and mesmerized by these creatures that it inspired new piece of literature. For example, Margaret Atwood dedicates a whole poem to the sirens, which is the first mentioned in The Odyssey as creatures that lures sailors to their death, but ,unlike the Odyssey, it is written in the point of view of the sirens. Even though the depiction of the sirens are distinct and told in different point of view, both pieces of writing, Homer’s Odyssey and Atwood’s “ Siren Song”, have similar elements of cleverness. Homer describes Odysseus as wise, which is a characteristic needs to help the crew escape disasters and deaths.

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One can tell Odysseus’ need for Nostos when Circe gives him directions when passing the island of the Sirens. “She says, whoever draws too close [to the island], off guard, and catches the Sirens’ voices in the air – no sailing home for him, no wife rising to meet him, no happy children beaming up at their father’s face” (Book 12). If Odysseus did not care about what he has back home, he probably would have fell to the voices of the Sirens. However, when Odysseus approaches the island of the Sirens, he is bound to the ship to hear the songs of the Sirens, in which no one has ever lived past.

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The Odyssey written by Homer and the Siren Song, by Margaret Atwood both use imagery, symbolism, different tones and different point of view to depict Sirens. The Odyssey surrounds a man who hears the Sirens song, but uses different tactics to survive it, although the Siren Song is written as if the written is a siren trying to prey on the readers. The difference of narrators tells the story of the Sirens in two very different

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There are sundry items emphasized in these three texts. Not only is the song and spell highlighted in “The Odyssey”, but also the challenge Odysseus and his crew had to face(Homer). “O Brother Where Art Thou?” discusses the women who sing the Siren song, the spell, and the disappearance of the men. The poem accentuates the Siren song (Atwood). Odysseus wanted to surrender to the captivating song of the Sirens, but the ropes hindered him.

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The allusion to the Sirens from Greek mythology in “Song to the Siren” and “Sirens Song” is included to show the detrimental effects of deceit and allurement on humans today, as well as the simplicity in manipulating them. The song “Sirens Song” is describing how a prostitute lures men in towards them by their beauty. It displays that “All he needed was to hear what was in front of him/ A song sang too many times” (Miss May I). The allusion to the Sirens exemplifies the level of deceit and manipulation that the harlot used on the man. Similarly to the Sirens, the harlot will cause harm and bring danger to the man she is tricking, showing how humans are just as easy to manipulate today as they were thousands of years ago.

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