Siren Song Poem Analysis

Title

Siren Song

Author

Margaret Atwood

Number of Lines

27

Title (Literal)

Siren Song

Speaker (Point of View, Audience, Occasion)

3rd person for the first 3 stanzas. 1st and 2nd

person for the rest of the poem. The speaker
is a Siren who is trying to lure us in.

Figurative Language

Will you get me out of this bird suit?

Attitude (Tone)

The speaker of the poem has a very helpless

tone. She uses this tone to convey a meaning
of peril and danger. In the last stanza, the
tone shifts and she reveals that she is luring
us in. The ...at last. Alas shows the shift
of tone.

Shifts (From __ to __ )

After the 3rd stanza, it switches from 3rd

person to 1st and 2nd person. The end of the
poem is a huge shift in tone. It switches from
her singing her song to us realizing the the
siren has lured us in.

Title (figurative)

Siren = mythological creature. It is also an

alarm.
Song = something meant to entertain us and
we are supposed to enjoy them.
Siren Song = A woman's plea
Siren Song = An alarm/warning song

Anomalies

I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and

valuable.
- She almost reveals that she is singing
the Siren Song, and it is not an actual
cry for help.

Structure or Form

Free Verse Poem of 9 tercets (stanza with

three lines)

Irony

The last line of the poem reveals that the

siren was just luring us in the entire time. She
never needed help, she was simply trying to
get the men to come close.

Diction or Detail

They leap overboard in squadrons even

though they see the beached skulls
Picturesque and mythical

Repetition

The song
Secret
To you and only you

Syntax

The first sentence is three stanzas long. The

next thing is a question, which is the only
question in the song. Then there is a two
stanza sentence. In the last three stanzas,
the phrases and sentences get shorter. There
is an exclamation point in the eighth stanza.

Symbolism

The song is the sirens power. She uses this

power because it is her only strength. The
bird suit is a symbol for the costume that
women are supposed to wear. It represents
the way that women have to appear.