Comenntary "siren song"

Siren Song (Commentary)
Siren Song
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadron
seven 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.
Alasit is a boring songbut it works every time.

In Margre Atwoods "Siren song" can be interpreted as a conceit which states womens role with the term "bird suit." The song the speaker mentions is the sterotype of how women trap men in relationships, as it cause men to "leap overboard in squadrons." This gives women complete control, as men will do just about anything. The third stanza explains what the speaker wishes toto do to this sterotype, escaping from the "bird suit." I have interpreted this ambigious term as the cycle of the sterotype of women luring the men in. The emotions from the speaker can be considered sarcastic, as in the last two stanzasthe speaker repeats "only you can save me," which can be interpreted in two different ways.

One. the speaker is serious, and wants to make the reader feel special, and the reader must try to stop a sterotype that has been happening for 1000's of years. The other way it can be interpreted is that the tone is completely sarcastic, and the speaker is addressing how much she hates the sterotype. The structure of the poem also reminds me of a typical poem, because it consists of just a introduction, body, and a conclusion really. I belive that Atwoods did this on purpose to show the traditional style of writing, just like the traditional steryoptype in the poem.

One key feature I notice that the speaker wants this steotype to be gone is that the speaker uses diction specifically in the body pargraph, where she mentions that she doesn't wat the sterotype to exist anymore, using words such as "skulls", "dead", "fatal". These words had reminded me that the speaker wants to destroy the sterotype, because why else would margret atwood use these words? Also her diction is shown in the title "siren song" I believe that margret atwood choose this as a title, because the speaker wants the end the steroptype.

1 comment:

KC said...

I agree with your analysis, and I especially like your second interpretation of the line "only you can save me". I never thought of this line before as sarcasm. I don't quite understand, however, how you came to the conclusion that the title "siren song" shows how the speaker wants to end the stereotype. You didn't really explain that one very well...