Siren Song Essay

“The Myth of the Sirens” Sirens have always been a key point in mythology. In Greek mythology sirens were “a creature half bird and half woman who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song” (Britannica). Once a man heard their beautiful song it would drive them insane, leading them into jumping overboard. John William Waterhouse, in his panting Ulysses and the Sirens, he shows you how the sirens were believed to truly look to the Greeks and how the hideous creatures would

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). These two poems compare in the continuities

Greek Mythology have multiple interpretations. Among these characters include the dangerous, yet gorgeous Sirens, bird-women who sit on a cliff singing bewitching songs that captivate the minds of innocent travelers and entice them to their deaths. In Homer’s The Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song,” both poets provide different representations of the Sirens. Homer portrays the Sirens as irresistible in order to establish men as heroes, whereas Atwood depicts them as unsightly and pathetic

All four sources that incorporate sirens deliver the message of temptation, but each convey the idea in a different manner(SoW #2, Compound Sentence). The separate elements of each work uses figurative language, visual imagery, and word choices. Although they all differ, all four pieces of literature share several commonalities(SoW #3, Introductory subordinate clause). The epic poem, The Odyssey, and painting, “Ulysses and the Sirens”, convey their messages very differently, as the epic uses visual

resolve is lost? The Sirens are a group of women who sing a song so captivating that ships are constantly lured to their island. They are often rendered as birds with the head of a woman. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus and his men must pass the island of the Sirens in order to return to Ithaca, their homeland. In order to prevent his men from jumping overboard towards the enchanting song, Odysseus plugs his men’s ears with wax, and then he is tied down and listens to the song. The song compels Odysseus

As a part of Greek mythology, sirens have made their way into many forms of literature throughout history. They seem to always follow a given template for a seductive, tempting creature whose only purpose is to lure men to their doom. In the two given poems, however, Homer and Margaret Atwood use a variety of devices to present very different portrayals of the mythological sirens. From the beginning of the excerpt of Homer’s epic Odyssey, a very masculine tone is presented through Odysseus’s

islands called Sirenum Scopuli. These creatures were called Sirens, also known as The Daughters of Phorcys. The Sirens were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Phorcys was a primeval God of the hidden dangers of the deep and was depicted as a fish-tailed merman with crab-claw fore-legs and red-spiked skin. Ceto was the primordial sea Goddess, and their union produced terrible monsters such as the China, London, and the Gorgons. The Sirens were sea nymphs, part woman, and part bird. The names

painting Ulysses and the Sirens by John Williams Waterhouse, he depicts Odysseus’ leadership skills that avoid the fatal Sirens from seducing and killing his crew. Margaret Atwood’s poem, exhibits just how deadly the sirens were. The painting was painted in 1891 and it was purchased for the National Gallery of Victoria by Sir Hubert Herkomer, for £1200, in June 1891 (Bonollo 1). In the painting Ulysses and the Sirens by John Williams Waterhouse and the poem “Siren’s Song” by Margaret Atwood use the

Homer’s tone towards the Sirens deprecates and objectifies them, while Atwood’s tone towards the Sirens is empathic and woeful, for the purpose of revealing male oppression and its effect on females. Homer describes the Sirens as an experience for the hero’s benefit. The Sirens sing their song to Odysseus, and according to Homer, the song’s purpose is to let man “hear to his heart’s content” and sail away “a wiser man” (Homer 18). The Sirens are merely an experience, an object, that a hero grabs

developed. A myth that has always stood out to me is that of the Sirens. Therefore, I have chosen to create an adaptation of their legend, in the form of a board game, to give them a deeper background. Drawing from the influence of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, which humanizes and provides background to the twelve hanged maids, I developed a history for the Sirens of The Odyssey and The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Both the maids and the Sirens are minor characters that are made out to be evil and villainous