Siren Song (Commentary)

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 they see beached 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 it works every time.

Maraget Atwood

In the poem "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood she uses the Sirens from the
"Odyssey" and gives them reversal roles. In the "Odyssey", Homer portrays the Sirens as dangerous and very deceptive. Margaret Atwood however, shows the Sirens in danger or vulnerable, and extreme desperation. In the third amd fifth stanzas it explains the desperation the Sirens have. It says "get me out of this bird suit?" and "Help me" (Atwood Line 12, 22). The woman showing that they need help or liberation shows Atwood's frequent use of weak
feminine roles.

In 'Siren Song" there are six stanzas with each stanza having three lines except
for the third stanza which has 12 lines. Also throughout the poem, the Sirens are reduced to a single, female entity. It also seems as if thr Sirens are playing a game because it's evident in the Siren's tone and rheterical strategy used throughout the poem. In the six stanza it mentions that "it is a boring song" (Atwood Line 26). The entire event of the "boring song" is just a game set up for a trap. (Atwood Line 27) This line says "it works every time" which gives you a feeling that someone is being tricked or trapped.

Basically Atwood uses the Sirens in her poem to show women who are trying to escape from the female stereotype. Overall I think Atwood is trying to say that women want to be saved from this stereotype and gender roles which is why Atwood switches the roles of the Sirens in her poem as opposed to the oringinal "Odyssey" story.

Follower (Commentary)

In the poem “Follower” by Seamus Heaney he uses imagery of following to show the admiration of his father and the change of roles that occurs between the speaker and father. Heaney creates a certain image in the beginning of the poem when he describes his father work in the field. The speaker is speaking as a young boy in the poem and he remembers himself following his father as he goes about his work and, like most young men, he looks up to his dad as a hero and he admires him.

The poem is structured in six stanzas, each stanza containing four lines and the rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB. Heaney makes several nautical references in the poem. These include “The father's shoulders are like the billowing sail of a ship. The “sod” rolls over “without breaking” (like a wave) (Heaney 2-3). “Mapping the furrow” is like navigating a ship (Heaney 12). The nautical imagery in the poem explains that his dad was a hard worker. He compares his dad with the nautical imagery in comparison with a sailor because they do physical ‘expert’ work. Also the nautical imagery could relate to movement because the dad ends up following the son at the end of the poem.

In the last stanza the roles of father and son seem to switch because the son is now older. “I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, yapping always. But today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away.” The father has taken the follower child-like role that the speaker once had. It’s ironic because the father was once viewed as a powerful heroic figure to the son, but now the father is looking up to someone who use to look up to him.

Punishment (Commentary)

In the poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney he uses the image of Irish troubles by drawing a parallel between the young woman killed and events around the speaker in Northern Ireland. The poem compares the Windeby girl with Catholic girls in Northern Ireland, which Heaney mentions in the poem, is her "betraying sisters" (38), who were punished for associating with British soldiers. Heaney seems to write with pity of the girl’s humiliation and final pain, when she had only the ring-like band around her eyes to remind her of love's memories (20-22).

The structure of this poem is broken up into eleven stanzas with four lines in every stanza. Heaney seems to have structured the poem in two halves; the first half describes with intense imagery the significant events leading to the woman’s death. Heaney then uses enjambment as a technique to establish a bridge allowing the poem to flow naturally to the second part. The second part of the poem seems to have switch perspectives allowing us to see through the women’s eyes. The naked exposure of the girl in the first stanza shows the girl’s weakness which symbolizes the loss of innocence which connects with her death. Heaney uses the female body as a metaphor in the poem to describe the cultural conflict between Ireland and England symbolically at a personal level for Heaney to show the vulnerability the Irish have.

Heaney uses “Punishment” to draw a comparison with women from the Catholic community who were associated with British soldiers and were extremely punished for it. I think Heaney wants to show that they are powerless to stop the abuse and conflict that spreads throughout Irish Culture.