Atwood Siren Song

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 squadrons
even though the see breached 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 ti works every time.

Margaret Atwood

In "Siren Song," Margaret Atwood uses diction, tone, mood, and allusions to illustrate how women are cunning, and can easily lure a man so that she may do with him as she pleases. Her poem has many images of the the stereotype that women are inferior, unintelligent, and helpless. However, the amazing thing about this poem is that Atwood uses these stereotypes as amunition; she twists and transforms them to show what women are really capable of.

The poem alludes to Homer's "The Odyssey," by using a siren (a beautiful woman that is also part bird) as the speaker. She is telling her story to any man willing to listen and take on the challenge. She is singing so that she does not have to sing again, to find a man who is able to save her from "this bird suit." The dominant repetition of "Help me," and, "Only you," follows the stereotypical woman who depends on a man to do everything. The tone and mood of the poem throughout most of the poem is helpless, powerless, feeble, and even disabled.

However, the men are ignorant to the fact that this is the exact state of mind the siren wants them to have. She intentionally boosts his ego by saying "Only you, only you can, you are unique." The very last stanza is where everything shifts in favor of the women. "At last. Alas it is a boring song but it works every time." Cunningly, the siren allowed him to think that she was helpless so that she could pounce on him when he least expected it. The poem represents how men and maybe even society are small minded to the capacity of women. I believe Atwood is encouraging women to allow these stereotypes to be placed on them. Only so that when they are broken, it is even more of a suprise.

(This poem reminds me of Lysistrata and the scene between Myrrhine and Kinesias. I guess it was meant for me to always remember the theme "The Power of a Woman." LOL)

Plog #1: The Good-Morrow

THE GOOD-MORROW
by John Donne

I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear ;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;
Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west ?
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.



Love can be a very strange, confusing, and ambiguous feeling/emotion. Few people are born with the capability to express it in a smooth, flowing, and understandable fashion. John Donne was one of those persons who could make it crystal clear of how he was feeling. In the "Good-Morrow," through the structure and careful selection of words, Donne demonstrates how he can reveal his emotions, affection, and love to his significant other.

The structure of the poem works similar to an hourglass for there are three different stanzas; the past, the present, and the what falls ahead. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his initial approach to love. At this moment, he was very promiscuous saying that "If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got..." and "But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?" The way he handles his love life is very explicit and even pig like. Words like "troth" and "snorted" give you the image of a pig, an animal many consider nasty and unruly.

All of this was done until he meets his lover and he arrives to the present in stanza two. The first line says "And now good-morrow to our waking souls." The image that is created is one where the speaker literally wakes up from his dream. Waking plays an important role in the meaning of this sentence on a metaphoric level. Things that are associated with waking are a sunrise, a new day, or a new beginning. So on a deeper level from the first two lines, the speaker is saying good morning to the new beginning which we both do not fear.

The last stanza depicts how the speaker sees the future. He believes that they are a great (maybe even perfect) couple by saying "Where can we find two better hemispheres." He and his significant other are two halfs to a whole or two hemispheres to the earth. They come together better than any others to make this whole/"earth"/love. The poem concludes with the idea that their love is eternal. He says that their love will not decay, weaken, or die.