Margaret Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” incorporates allusion to convey the meaning of the work as a whole. The poem alludes to the myth of the Sirens of ancient Greece. The Sirens were the ultimate persuaders, said to live on an island sing songs, if heard, would cause the listener to jump off of his ship and swim toward the Sirens, who would kill the men when they arrived. In the poem, as in the myth, the listener is aware of the horrors of the Sirens, and yet is unable to escape their apparent allure. The association of this poem with the myth of the Sirens is a key to understanding the deeper significance of the work. The allusion to a well-known Greek myth in this poem connects the current time period to a civilization that has been gone for 2,000 years, adding to the meaning as a whole, which is the universality of persuasion.
This poem also uses synecdoche to convey ideas regarding such persuasion. While in the immediate scope of the poem, the listener is being lured by a Siren, the weakness that is apparent here represents man’s weakness as a whole. Rather than confining persuasion to this sole event, the narrator states that, “… it works every time” which implies a tendency for man to succumb to promises that he knows will not be lived up to. The extension of this aspect of the poem therefore depicts not the listener, but all of mankind as weak.
This poem intrigued me because it contains allusion to Greek mythology, a topic that has always been a subject of my fascination. With a fairly good knowledge of Greek mythology, it was easy to understand and appreciate the connection between the myth of the Sirens and the meaning of the poem. While this allusion is not original, Atwood portrays the speaker of the poem (one of the Sirens), as disinterested in such actions, even saying, “I don’t enjoy it here.” This is ironic because according to the myth, the listener will face a brutal death from the Sirens, yet the Siren in this poem wishes to escape.
No comments:
Post a Comment