Siren Song

1. In Greek mythology, the Sirens, half bird and half woman, sing an irresistible song to passing sailors, causing them to meet their deaths by jumping overboard or crashing their ships into rocks. How is the speaker characterized in the poem? What do readers know about her? In what ways does the Siren’s characterization speak to societal sexism toward women?

2. During Odysseus’s journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, he must pass a series of ordeals. One of the early ordeals is to sail by the island of the Sirens without succumbing to their song. Another mythical creature, Circe, instructs Odysseus to place beeswax in the ears of his crew and to have the crew tie Odysseus to a pole. Rather than a cry for help, the Sirens offer Odysseus knowledge of “all that comes to pass on the fertile earth.” In what ways is Odysseus’s enforced resistance a lesson against overindulgence that the sailors and the reader fail to learn?

3. In Greek mythology, the Sirens begin as sea nymphs who attend the goddess Persephone. When Persephone is abducted by Hades, her mother, Demeter, transforms the nymphs into birds so they can aid in the search for Persephone. What does the speaker’s willingness to abandon the “two feathery maniacs” say about the relationship among women in the poem? Do you think this statement reflects her true attitude toward the other Sirens, or is it just another part of the seduction?