Sirens In The Odyssey

A siren; part woman, part bird; a mythical creature who is one of many sea nymphs. Sirens can be portrayed differently as each author/artist creates a new profile for them in each of their pieces of art. Tone is created in the actions of the sirens in many different works like The Odyssey, by Homer, Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song,” and John William Waterhouse’s Ulysses and The Sirens. Some could be similar to others or they could differ. The sirens in the epic poem, The Odyssey; Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song;” and Waterhouse’s Ulysses and the Sirens all convey a specific tone that depicts the sirens as confident, threatening, and secretive. 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
The sirens sing, “the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the others can’t remember,” which lure the reader in because they would want to hear the song that no one else knows. “Will you get me out of this bird suit,” is also secretive because the suit gives a sense of deceit or fakeness from the reality of what the siren really is. The tone suddenly shifts to pitiful as the siren says, “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.” The siren is almost complaining to the reader about how she hates being a part of the trio and that she would much rather escape from them. The pitiful tone is also shown when the siren sings, “This song is a cry for help: Help me!” This tells the reader that the siren is helpless and pleads for someone to save