The Diction Of The Sirens In Fagles Siren Song

Through the imagery of both Homer and Margaret Atwood we see the difference in the Siren’s attitude in each poem. In The Odyssey, the Siren says, “honeyed voices pouring from our lips.” This imagery is a seductive tactic used by the Siren to lure the men closer. Odysseus tells us that his heart wanted more. This shows how the desire to get closer to the Siren was toxic. In “Siren Song” the Siren uses imagery to mock herself and make the reader feel bad for her. She tells us that she is “squatting on the island looking picturesque and mythical.” It is inferred that she is simply unhappy and bored where she is.

Homer first utilizes hyperboles to express the hazard of the situation that Odysseus and his men face. One of Odysseus’ men Eurylochus is the first one to face Circe’s wrath as when one of the men manages to escape her lair. He then recounts the perilous adventure to the rest of the men, demonstrating the precariousness of the situation but his prevailing wit to stay back and not be seduced by Circe’s advances. This riskiness of the situation is first demonstrated Eurylochus comes back to the men on the ship in tears-- “numbing sorrow had stunned [him] to silence--tears welled in his eyes, his heart possessed by grief” (272-273). Homer uses alliteration in “sorrow” “stunned” and “silence” that demonstrates the strong desolation and overall emotional pain that Eurylochus felt, after

In the Epic, “The Odyssey", spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, "The Sirens", who challenge Odysseus 's will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, “The Cyclops", who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus 's men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, “The Land of Dead" which tested his self-restraint, and revealed his human weaknesses of sorrow. The Epic Hero, Odysseus, struggles with many challenges such as, the taunting Sirens, the brutish and cruel Cyclops, and one of the arduous territories Odysseus has ever crossed, The Land of the Dead.

In another part of the story, Odysseus and his crew have to sail past the sirens. Odysseus decides that instead of plugging his ears like his crew does he want to listen to the sirens song. He then has his crew tie him to the mast of the ship with orders to not untie him until they have past the sirens. Odysseus seems to have done this out of pride and curiosity. He most likely does it out of pride. To show his crew how strong and brave he is. He is probably also curious about the sirens song, wondering what could be so beautiful that it could lure so many people to their death. Doing this could lead to respect from his crew, and satisfying his

In the story of the Sirens, Homer uses diction to describe the tone as mystical and oblivious to the audience. Homer presents the intricacy of the myth of the Sirens through different point of views, tones, and imagery. He tells a story of a man who is clever enough to hear the Siren’s song and not lose his life. Odysseus knows what the sirens will do to him, so he takes precautions by plugging his crew’s ears with wax and asking them to tie him to the ship.. An example is, “My faithful company rested on their oars now, peeling off the wax that I had laid thick on their ears…” (line 754-755) This implies that the crew was exhausted of hearing the Sirens voices and trying to ignore it, as the Sirens leave, they remove the wax from their ears.

The Sirens in the Odyssey represent more than just a maritime danger to the passing ship. They are the desires of man that he cannot have. The Sirens can also be construed as forbidden knowledge or some other taboo object. Whatever these singing women actually are, the sailors are wise to avoid them. As usual, the wily Odysseus cheats at the rules of the game by listening to their song under the restraints constructed by his crew.

First, Odysseus and his men must sail past the Sirens, however, hearing their song leads any sailor to his doom. Circe herself tells Odysseus that “the Sirens will sing his mind away on that sweet meadow lolling.” (678 ll. 666-667) How does Odysseus overcome this adversary? He simply follows Circe’s orders to “plug your oars men's ears with beeswax….” (678 ll. 670-671) Although, she urges Odysseus to listen to the song of the Sirens alone. So, to prevent himself from becoming an issue, he orders his men to tie him up “plumb, amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast….” (681 ll. 746-747) This solution was also given to Odysseus via word of Circe. Thus, if Odysseus had not clearly followed Circe’s instructions, from plugging his men’s ears with beeswax to ordering his men to tie him to the mast, he and his crew would have met a fatal end. Much like soldiers in real life, Odysseus and his crew had to comply and obey orders in order to guarantee success on a mission. Circe’s advice allowed Odysseus to overcome the deadly Sirens without any loss, however, his whole journey did not go as smoothly.

While both poems of the sirens portray the creatures as enticing, admitting to the deadliness of the song they sing (PrPP), Atwood’s rendition, with its perspective entirely from that of a siren herself, paints the sirens as more deceitful in their malevolent (SAT Vocab) coaxing of men, while the sirens of Homer’s classic tale rely more on their beauty and “ravishing voices,” (Homer, 19) utilizing rhetorical appeals to attract sailors (PrPP Parallel Structure).

Like Homer, the Sirens are depicted in the “Siren Song as cunning and seductive, manipulating their listeners in order to lure them into their trap. Atwood uses first person point of view to evoke a sense of sympathy for the Sirens. This prompts the listeners to feel as if the sirens are personally speaking to them. Phrases such as, “help me” and “I don’t enjoy it here” tempts the men, causing them to act like the hero. This contradicts the methods used in the excerpt from the Odyssey, which was the use of their mesmeric femininity to lure the listeners. In addition, the tone of the poem is portrayed as alluring and hypnotic. This draws the man into the Sirens trap. The Sirens are characterized as one in need of saving. The repetition of the word “you” in the poem makes the listeners feel unique.

Once the men are drawn to the Sirens, they are stuck and there is no way for them to escape. Additionally, Homer explains Odysseus’ encounter with the Sirens from Odysseus’ point of view. The Sirens try to attract Odysseus by singing compliments to “famous Odysseus,” so he will assume he is the object of their desire (14). The Sirens are intelligent, and therefore determine what Odysseus’ true weaknesses: flattery and the desire for recognition. His faults are similar to other men; however no other men share Odysseus’ unique wish. When Odysseus sails by, they attack his weaknesses, just as they do to the other ships, but Odysseus already is prepared. The Sirens sing to him and promise he will be able to “[sail] on a wiser man” if Odysseus listens to their song (18). His plan almost fails because the song captivates Odysseus and, thus, attempts to join the Sirens, risking his life to gain the knowledge that the Sirens guarantee. Odysseus navigates himself through the sea with hopes of becoming more intelligent. Homer describes the Sirens as beautiful yet cunning because of their ability to identify men’s weaknesses easily. Their beauty attracts men and thus draws them toward their death. Homer’s view of the relationship between Odysseus and the Sirens prove that the Sirens are extremely tempting and the men cannot help but fall for them.

As Odysseus travels through the epic, he is constantly trying to maintain his image, always bragging about his wisdom and talents. The Sirens expose and exploit this weakness of his when he encounters them. Their “honeyed voices pouring from [their] lips” (Homer, Odyssey, p. 277, 12.203) is a sticky trap that reveals just how much Odysseus yearns for glory and fame. They call him “Archaea’s pride and glory” and tell him to “come closer, famous Odysseus” (Homer, Odyssey, p. 277, 12.200). By making “famous” the new epithet to his name, they have already won his heart. They then proceed to tempt him in with promises of more wisdom. Odysseus had to literally be tied down so that he would not jump off the ship. All the while, the Sirens most definitely knew that humans are inherently greedy and susceptible to temptation.

She shows this by revealing that the “Sirens” are trying to manipulate the sailors to their deaths by singing them their song. The tone of the poem can be described as manipulative and passionate which demonstrates the idea that sirens put in a lot of passion in their songs to bring passing sailors to their deaths (Analysis). According to the poem humans can be very manipulative in our world today, like the sirens many people use words to manipulate people into doing their “dirty work” for them (Analysis). The phrase “forces men to leap overboard...though they see the beached skulls” is from the poem “Siren Song.” This phrase shows how manipulative the sirens could be in mythology

The strongest quality about sirens that has been repeated throughout this essay is their ability and desire to lead their victims to their untimely death. Though the narrator does not physically die throughout this story, there is some evidence that the siren Ligeia has caused him to die in other ways; the narrator may not have physically died but has emotionally and mentally perished in some way. The first indicator that Ligeia has caused the narrator some sort of death or destruction comes directly after her own death. After the narrator describes Ligeia’s death, the narrator mentions that “without Ligeia I was but a child groping benighted” (624). From the wording in these lines, readers could assert that without the presence of Ligeia in his life, the narrator feels like he lost his direction and is almost child-like in his helplessness.

Sirens lived on an island near Scylla and Charybdis. The would sing and lure the sailors and their crew in to cause them to shipwreck. The Sirens had the head of a woman and the body of a bird, and they had wings. The Sirens also would give knowledge to anyone who would come to them. The greatest story that the Sirens have is the story about the Odyssey and his crew returning home from the Trojan war. The Sirens committed suicide because of the Odyssey passing by them and they were one of the only Crews to escape the Sirens. They did this because it was known that if anyone passed by them they would perish instead. If you would like to know more about the Sirens there is a statute of them and it is located in Greece.

Sirens are identified as sea nymphs who, by their sweet song they lured mariners to their deaths. They are imaged as raptor birds with female heads. The Sirens lived on an island (Hesiod calls this Island Anthemoessa) in the sea. They sang songs so sweetly that they lured sailors to their deaths. The nature of the sirens and their origin story prove that most women, in Greek culture, were a depiction of someone who will seduce men and lead them to their doom. Women were the givers of life in an age when the processes of conception, fertility and childbirth were still deeply mysterious and little understood. With this, men wanted women to have a limited role in Greek culture because men feared the power that women have. Even though there were powerful female figures, like Athena and Aphrodite, the majority of women is represented as what men fear and made sure women had a limited role in Greek mythology and society. In Greek culture women were perceived as beautiful creatures who will seduce men, but have nefarious intentions, and the myths of women in Greek culture proved that men always feared the power that women could have.