Preview

Notes on the Sirens from Homer's Odyssey

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
402 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Notes on the Sirens from Homer's Odyssey
Sirens: What happens? Sirens (beaut nymphs naked on an island; seduce men with their voices) are singing to odysseus with bones Men try and reach them and crash on their shore Odysseus wants to hear the songs and asks to be tied to mast and the men fill their ears with wax. Odysseus wants to experience everything beautiful but to not be destroyed by it Singing about Odysseus and how great he is: The Trojan war and the greatness of him and Achilles Singer who glorifies the Trojan War? Homer is the singer of the sirens* Power and Nature of poetry? The poet glorifies war and glory and seduces men to the idea of it, but in reality they are just skeletons. They're seduced to their deaths.
Odysseus and his relation to Poetry? When he hears the music he wants to go to them; but he had prepared not to. So it’s a struggle within him, reason tells him to stay alive and be concscious because he knows how powerful poetry is so he must avoid it. HE has a desire for preservation and he knows life is good and wants to stay alive. He has power of reason and beauty. Can't be seduced even though he knows how beatiful and attractive they are. Some people are never seduced by beauty or glory, and it takes a certain kind of man to be able to appreciate the beauty of poetry and tempation of glory to not give into those things. Achilles gave in and died in battle. Odysseus can say he has heard the music of the sirens but he never gave in. He has faced adversity and has furthered his self knowledge. He is constantly testing himself by giving himself these tasks and overcoming them. i.E. heading into hades and facing death. Circes wasn't able to seduce Odysseus A bit of homer in the story as well: The story is filled with beauty, is Homer seduced by the beauty that he speaks of? To what extent does poetry and beauty hide from man the fundamental ugliness of nature? In the end you just end of a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Plot Summary: Ten years have passed since the fall of Troy, and the Greek hero Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom in Ithaca. A large and rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun Odysseus’s palace and pillaged his land continue to court his wife, Penelope. She has remained faithful to Odysseus. Prince Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, wants desperately to throw them out but does not have the confidence or experience to fight them. One of the suitors, Antinous, plans to assassinate the young prince, eliminating the only opposition to their dominion over the palace. He plans to ambush him. Unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive. The beautiful nymph Calypso, possessed by love for him, has imprisoned him on her island, Ogygia. He longs to return to his wife and son, but he has no ship or crew to help him escape. On Mount Olympus, Zeus sends Hermes to rescue Odysseus from…

    • 4402 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, in Atwood’s passage, the focus is on femininity and weakness of men. The two juxtaposing portrayals of the Sirens are conveyed through different imagery of men and women. In Homer’s passage, the Odysseus determined to conquer the luring women as he uses “a sharp sword” to slice beeswax…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Homer’s Odyssey” the poem is told from Odysseus point of view. He portrays the Sirens as mysterious and luring. Circes advises Odysseus that the Sirens “spellbind any man alive, whoever comes their way.” Gaining this knowledge, Odysseus made his sailors plug their ears with beeswax so they would avoid hearing the thrilling songs of the Sirens. Odysseus was determined to hear the…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The imagery of “weaving” a song suggests that the song, as it progresses, binds the listener tighter and tighter. In the same way, Odysseus becomes entwined in the Sirens’ beauty…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sirens attract the sailors who sail by their island with their voices in hopes that they will crash onto their island. Before Odysseus and his crew sail by the island, he gives everyone ear wax to put into their ears so that they will not be tortured by the Sirens’ songs. His men had tied him to the ship so that he would not jump overboard to hear what these seductive women were saying. When Odysseus’s ship sails past the Siren’s island, his naked ears are tortured by the sweet song of the Sirens. This song drives Odysseus mad with the temptation and the desire of what the sirens are singing. Moreover, if it were not for his men, the Sirens would have caused Odysseus to crash his ship on the rocks and perish. “…on the island of Sirens there are bodies of men who heard the Sirens’ voice and crashed on their island” (Vernant 104). Countless men sail past the Sirens Island but when they sailed they heard the Sirens’ voice causing them to crash. “The Sirens are both the appeal of the yearning for knowledge, erotic attraction-they are the essence of seduction-and death” (Vernant 104). When men sail past their island, this is what they would sing of, driving men to go crazy to hear more of what they were saying. Although the Sirens cannot move, their seductive voices amplified all over the oceans and cause men to crash on their…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sirens Voices In Odysseus

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Through Odysseus' point of view, he senses pride and glory by listening to the sirens. Homer states, "So they sent their ravishing voices out across the air and the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer." The author portrays the Sirens as heart touching with their singing. With the imagery applied, Odysseus feels a sense of delighted emotions as he is intrigued by the Sirens. The way in which the Sirens voices are describes as "ravishing" also create a meaningful…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer utilizes plot to develop a major motif, the repercussions of succumbing to temptation. One of the most memorable instances when Odysseus gave into temptation was at the island of the cyclops. He gave into his curiosity and he entered the cyclops's home. The aggressive cyclops came home and ate multiple men. Odysseus’s lust for Kleos is also a temptation. He surrendered to it when he reveals his identity to Polyphemus, bringing the wrath of Poseidon upon him and his crew. Only Odysseus survived. Another example of Odysseus giving into temptation is the Siren ordeal, when he insisted on listening to the Siren's mesmerizing song. The crew were made to plug their ears, so that they could sail safely by the Sirens’…

    • 187 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homer’ s story The Odyssey tells of a triumphant hero named Odysseus and how his heroism saves his entire crew from the sirens. On the other hand, (“O Brother Where Art Thou”?) is not about bravery, but about being under the influence of the women's beauty and magical alcohol. Finally, Margaret Atwood's poem “Siren Song” talks about the women who are called the “sirens” the women who are part human and part bird, they sing the most beautiful song to get the men to crawl over board.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the episode “The Sirens” of Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is a strong-headed leader whose determination to successfully pass the sirens is only possible with the help of his men, proving that the mutual relationship between Odysseus and his men leads to success. Following Circe’s advice about overcoming the Sirens, Odysseus declares to his men that they must “tie [him] up, tight as a splint… and if [he] shouts and begs to be untied, take more turns of the rope” (695-698). Odysseus incorporates his guidance from Circe by instructing his men to do as they are told, proving they obey to Odysseus’ commands in order to gain achievement. Allowing himself to hear the song, Odysseus understands that his men cannot let him go; therefore, it is necessary…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus tells the event from his point of view, so in first person. This gives the story more action because it is a closer encounter of his feelings. What he feels and experiences from the sirens is best perceived from the person who experiences it. In the “Siren Song” the tone is depressing. It sends sadness because it describes the sirens actions as a plea for help.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leadership In The Odyssey

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The adventures continue. In the beginning of this book, Odysseus returns to Aeaea and buries his friend, Elpenor, like he so persistently requested. He also returns in order to spend one last night with his sporadic lover, Circe. Throughout his visit, she informs him of the difficult challenges coming his way in his trip back home as well as how to paramount them. Setting sail, he shares her advice with his crewmates. Arriving at the home of the Sirens, flying creatures whose sweet songs would tantalize sailors onto rocks, Odysseus plugs everyone’s ears with beeswax as they bind him to the ship. This is exactly how Circe recommend their approach to be. While they sing their songs about how they can reveal the future, under their influence,…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus is courageous because he protects his men and never backs down from a fight. When Odysseus and his men get captured by the Sirens, he wants to protect his men from the sirens enchanting voices. To do this he, “...carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears”, effectively plugging…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sirens In The Odyssey

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the epic poem, The Odyssey, the sirens have a tone of confidence. The sirens sing, “Never as any sailor passed our shores in his black craft,” and that shows how their song always works when men pass by the rocks their prey is always captured. When the men “left the Sirens fading in our wake, once we could hear their song no more, their urgent call,” the sirens…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus as an Epic Hero

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages

    First, nearing the end of the Epic, Odysseus continues to use his intelligence to overcome obstacles and hardships. Upon one attempt to return home, Odysseus must pass the island of the Sirens. He has his men plug their ears with beeswax but not before he tells them his place in the plan: “Take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more tightly still.” Even though Odysseus gives into the weakness of the sirens’ song, he is unable to escape from the bonds of the rope and his previous intelligence saves him. Once he arrives in Ithaca, Odysseus once again uses his intelligence to overcome his suitors and reclaim his estate. When he first encounters the people of his land, he wisely chooses to remain anonymous, avoiding an unplanned struggle or fight. Odysseus then reveals himself to his son and few servants to plan an attack on the suitors. At a contest to see if anyone can string Odysseus’s bow, the hero plans his attack after stringing the bow and firing on the suitors. His son and servants have the other arms and they massacre the entire group of suitors. This was one of Odysseus’s final acts of brilliance to conclude the epic.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Odysseus and his men set back out on the sea they came to the coastline of the lotus eaters. Odysseus picked out two men and a runner to go see what the land had sustained. Once Odysseus heard about the lotus flower, whoever eats the flower will want to stay on the island and forget about their home, they offer he drove his three men back to the ship tieing them to a bench on the ship. “I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches.”(The Odyssey line 48). Another heroic thing Odysseus did was when they went to the land of the cyclopes. For the first two days odysseus and his men feasted on wine, wild goats, and observed the mainland. On the third day odysseus and his crew go to find out if the cyclopes were friends or foes. Odysseus oarsmen rowed them nearer to the mainland for them to go greet the cyclopes. Odysseus took his 12 best fighting men with him to the cave while the rest guarded the ship. Odysseus brought a goatskin filled with that sweet liquor that Euathens’ son Maron gave him. Odysseus and his men climbed to the cave, but the cyclopes had went afield with his fat…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays