Comparing The Sirens In The Odyssey And Siren Song

Sirens are half bird and half woman that seduce men into ending their lives by luring men up close to the rocks because they seem to distaste men. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” both discuss how men and the sirens are portrayed throughout a portion of Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca. In The Odyssey, the sirens are portrayed as sneaky villains by seducing men and the men are portrayed as brave and strong. In “Siren Song”, the Sirens are portrayed as sneaky but also innocent, and helpless while men are portrayed as easily tricked. To portray the two authors’ different and similar opinions on the Sirens, the different characters in the epic poem and poem use diction, point of view, and imagery. Homer and Atwood use different dictions as one way to describe the Sirens . In The Odyssey,

In The Odyssey, Homer uses Odysseus’ point of view to describe the way the Sirens sing. According to Odysseus, the Sirens “burst into their high, thrilling song.” Odysseus portrays the Sirens as horrible, undesirable singers which reveals to the readers that Odysseus and his men do not appreciate the usage of their singing. Curious Odysseus decides to listen to their song anyways. Despite their appearance, the Sirens manages to lure Odysseus under their spell so that “the heart inside [him] throbbed to listen longer.” The author uses Odysseus to reveal how difficult it is to escape their malicious spell once he is entranced. As for Atwood, the author uses a Siren to reveal that the Sirens’ song is to obtain help from the sailors passing by. The Siren proclaims that “[this] song is a cry for help.” Contrasting from Homer’s point of view, Atwood declares that the Sirens are just using the song to get help, not manipulating men. The point of view greatly differentiates the main purpose of Homer’s poem and Atwood’s