The Manipulative Sirens and Their Victims in Margaret Atwoods Siren So

The Manipulative Sirens and Their Victims in Margaret Atwoods Siren SongIn Homers Odyssey, the Sirens are mythical creatures whose enthral voices lure sailors to their deaths. These women have fascinated people ever since Homer sung the lines of his epic, inspiring artists of many genres from oil paintings to films. In her poem Siren Song, Margaret Atwood re-envisions the Sirens to draw a comparison between the myths and modern life. Atwood portrays men as victims of Sirens (women) by making her readers the victims. Atwood begins her poem with the talker mysteriously introducing a sneaking(a). Speaking to her audience, the Siren--whose role is played in real life by women and paralleled by poets--attracts attention immediately with her luring phrases and vocabulary This is the one song bothone / would like to learn the song / that is irresistible... (1-3). Even with the word witch screaming, Warning Danger the loud ringing serves only to catch more notice. Readers respond with in terest, wanting to hear this song and wondering why it is irresistible (3). Atwood uses colons in this first stanza as her tool for pulling readers into her story. Her colons hint at the revelation of this great secret readers must read on to discover it.Rather than halt abruptly, Atwood carries her thought to the second stanza by beginning it with a lower case letter. However the speaker does not continue that thought by telling the secret right away as the reader would expect. Instead Atwood gives the speaker a seductive voice through her description of the enigmatic power of the Siren song. The speaker teases readers with evidence of its strength that forces men / to leap overboard (4-5), plunging to their deaths. ... ...t works every time (27).In Siren Song, Atwood plays off the mythical idea that Sirens seduce their victims in order to demonstrate the same manipulative tendencies in women and poets-women seduce men poets seduce their readers. She proves her theory by exercisi ng it and capturing her readers in her own poem. Her carefully crafted manner of speaking forms a trap for her readers, demonstrating poetrys powerfully seductive nature. Readers become entranced in her story, and, after facing death as the Sirens (Atwoods) victims, her readers agree that this is the song / that is irresistible... (2-3) and it works every time (27). Works CitedHamilton, Edith. Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York Mentor, 1990.VanSpanckeren, Kathryn and Jan Garden Castro. Margaret Atwood Vision and Forms. Carbondale Southern Illinois University Press, 1988.