"Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
First reactions
Odysseus lived. Aside from that, just from reading it I can't make out a discernible end-line or inner rhyme scheme, so this reads much like prose to me, especially since it is just telling a story. The twist of irony at the end is darkly humorous, but predictable given the myth of the sirens and the words of the poem itself; the rest of the poem is otherwise just a rehash of the popular understanding of the siren myth .
Paraphrase
The siren song is irresistible, though it leads men to their deaths, despite the mariners knowing the myth in the first place. The siren pleads with the listener to free her, as she does not enjoy being a siren and implies that she is not truly one herself. The listener is supposedly unique and so is the only one who can. However, the final lines imply that the siren has lured another person to their death.
SWIFTT
SW -Atwood has no obvious rhyme scheme and the poem reads prose. However, she makes heavy use of repetition to link her lines together. A significant example would be the first line of the last stanza, "at last. Alas," which uses phonetically similar words to create repetition. The choice of prose might be intentional, however, as the siren does call the song "boring," implying it's not much of a song at all. Also, Atwood's word choice makes a distinction between the speaking siren as a victim and trapped, contrasted with the other sirens who are feathered, mystical maniacs.
I - The main imagery is the set-up of the siren myth, including the island and the beached skulls to emphasize that the sirens are lethal. Another use of imagery is the contrast between the speaking siren and the other sirens. The speaking siren is set up to be someone trapped in a bird suit, while the other two sirens are feathered, implying that the speaking siren is actually not a siren at all.
F - Due to the plain nature of the poem, there is little figurative language. However, Atwood does play with double meanings, such as using "trio" to refer to the musical composition as well as the trio of sirens. Figurative language is also used in the speaker's description of herself and of the sirens.
T -The tone is initially one of desperation and pleading, as the siren is asking the reader to save her from the island and the other sirens. There is flattery and appeal to emotion used to drive home this point. However, at the end, it switches over to a sort of grim satisfaction, as the siren has successfully lured another victim with her self-described "boring song."
T -The overall theme of the song is one of dark humor. The seeming contrast between the initial siren's pleading for help followed by the culmination of the poem as the actual siren song used to lure mariners off their boats creates irony, maybe at the reader's expense.
Conclusions
The poem remains one is mainly humorous with an implied edge, but the details lie in the method of deception. The siren not only sets herself up as a victim, she creates for the reader an image of a person trapped in the myth of the siren, which makes the reader further sympathetic to the siren's plight. Atwood's word choice and figurative language add a little more depth to the poem, though its basic meaning remains the same as if read literally.
