The Full Text of “Siren Song”
The Full Text of “Siren Song”
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“Siren Song” Introduction
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"Siren Song" is a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood. Told from the perspective of a siren—a half-woman, half-bird creature from Greek mythology whose singing lures sailors to their deaths—the poem explores themes of vanity and seduction, stereotypes about women being helpless, and how the need to feel "unique" makes people vulnerable to flattery. On another level, "Siren Song" also examines the ways in which traditional gender expectations can trap people, pushing them to perform isolating, lonely roles. The poem was published in Atwood's 1974 collection titled You Are Happy.
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“Siren Song” Summary
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The speaker, a mythical siren, begins the poem by saying that she's singing something that people all over want to hear—a song that people can't help but find utterly captivating.
In fact, what she's singing has the power to compel men to jump right off their ships in droves despite being able to see the washed-up skeletons of other men who have done the exact same thing.
No one actually knows what this song sounds like, the speaker continues; everyone who's been exposed to it died as a result, or were driven mad and lost their memories.
The speaker wonders if she should confide something in the reader. If she does this, she asks, will the reader help her become fully human (rather than part bird, as sirens are)?
She's not happy to be stuck on this chunk of land in the middle of the sea, she says, where all she does is sit and look beautiful in an unrealistic, legendary sort of way.
She doesn't like hanging out with the other two sirens on the island either, whom she thinks are completely crazy. And she doesn't like performing as part of this trio, singing this song that's at once deadly and all she has.
She says to the reader that she will indeed confide in them, and in no one else. She asks the reader to come a little nearer to her.
The truth is, she says, that the song she sings is really a desperate attempt to get some assistance. She calls out for aid, saying that no one but the reader is capable of assisting her, because the reader is special, different from all the others.
Finally, the speaker says, there's someone different. Unfortunately, she continues, her tedious melody never fails her.
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“Siren Song” Themes
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The Trap of Gender Roles
“Siren Song” toys with the “mythology” of traditional gender roles. The speaker is one of the sirens of Greek myth: a beautiful half-bird, half-woman creature who lures sailors to their deaths with an enticing song. In this version of the story, however, the siren’s song isn’t so much beautiful as it is flattering to the man who hears it: she makes him feel special, like the only person in the world who will be able to save her. By the end of the poem, it’s made clear that this song is only a ploy; the speaker deceives men by appealing to their desire to be heroic. Yet the speaker doesn’t seem particularly happy about her success, because it leaves her once again isolated, stuck inside a “bird suit” she hates. In this way, the poem suggests that these “boring,” gendered scripts have a predictable outcome: both parties remain trapped inside a “myth” they can’t escape.
The speaker begins by describing her “song,” the one that men “leap overboard” to hear. She says that her song is “irresistible,” and that people who have heard it either die or lose their minds. Therefore, no one on earth can describe it except for her. She promises to share her “secret” with the reader (who stands in for the man she is addressing). The intimacy makes her feel more vulnerable, while being on the receiving end of such intimacy makes the man she’s addressing feel “unique.”
The speaker then reveals her “secret”: she doesn’t actually enjoy “squatting on this island / looking picturesque and mythical.” In other words, serving as an object to be longed for and feared has left her unhappy. She feels lonely and trapped; she wants to “get [...] out of this bird suit.” That is, she wants to be seen as fully human. By the end of the poem, it becomes clear that the speaker isn’t just describing the “song”; this “secret” is the “song.” Her “song” is simply a “cry for help”—a desperate attempt to be seen for who she really is.
Although her loneliness is real, her cry for help is also a ploy: she uses her frustration to lure this man into the same trap as all the others. By the time her victim realizes that the speaker’s vulnerability is the irresistible “song” itself, it’s too late: they've already fallen for it. The speaker concludes the poem by saying that “it works every time,” so it’s clear that this man is no different from any of the ones who came before.
Yet even though the speaker succeeds in deceiving yet another guileless, would-be savior, she's dissatisfied with the ruse. The speaker’s tone in the final stanza indicates that she’s rather disappointed to have fooled yet another man; her “Alas” suggests she might rather have been surprised than successful. It seems the speaker wasn’t lying when she said that she doesn’t “enjoy singing” this “boring song.” After all, every time she sings it, she ends up having to stay on the “island [...] with these two feathery maniacs” (the other sirens). As long as she continues to sing this song, she remains trapped in the myth created for her; she continues to be seen as not-quite-human.
The speaker’s song, then, evokes the “boring” scripts assigned by traditional gender roles. These scripts leave both parties isolated and unhappy, falling for the same “fatal” lies over and over again, trapped in an endless cycle of longing and disappointment.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 4-6
- Lines 10-18
- Lines 21-22
- Lines 23-27
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Vanity and Seduction
The poem cleverly pokes fun at the human desire to feel “unique.” The speaker is able to seduce listeners with her “song” by appealing to their vanity. By convincing listeners—both men on passing ships and readers of this very poem—that they are the "only" ones special enough to understand this song, the speaker proves that this kind of flattery ironically works on everyone. The poem also suggests that poetry itself works this way, winning people over by making them feel like they’re in on something that no one else can understand.
The speaker appeals to her listener's/reader's vanity by making them feel like they’re the only one in the world who can be trusted with her “secret.” She says that her song is one “nobody knows” because no one else has been able to handle it. By offering to share this secret with her listener/reader, she implies that she thinks this person is different from all the others, which of course the listener/reader wants to believe of themselves as well. She says she will tell the secret to no one else, and this feeling of being exceptional is what pulls one further into the song/poem.
But by convincing the listener/reader that they are special only to reveal that they've fallen for the same trick as all the others, the speaker proves that this kind of flattery ironically works on everyone. The listener is led to believe that by making it to the end of the poem, they will discover the speaker’s secret, and discovering this secret will “at last” make them “unique”—they will have acquired this hidden knowledge through their own merit. Instead, they make it to the end of the poem only to discover that their vanity—the thing that made them believe they were exceptional—is the exact thing that makes them like everyone else.
The poem suggests that poetry works this way as well—that the poem seduces the reader into believing they understand it in a way that no one else possibly can. In turn, this perhaps suggests that the intimacy readers feel with the speaker of a poem is rather one-sided. Despite the secrets the speaker may share over the course of the poem, the reader can never actually reach the speaker, never actually help her “out of [her] bird suit.” In the end, the speaker (and maybe the writer of the poem) is still stuck on an “island,” speaking/writing to a generalized “you”—but making the reader feel chosen, singular, and special.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-3
- Lines 4-12
- Lines 19-27
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Siren Song”
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Lines 1-6
This is the ...
... the beached skullsThe title of "Siren Song" clues readers into what this poem will be about: the sirens of Greek mythology were half-bird, half-woman creates who lived on an island and would bewitch passing sailors with their voices.
The poem draws from such mythology by describing a beautiful, "irresistible" song that makes men "leap" from their ships to the dangerous waters below. These men are desperate, rushing forward "in squadrons," or groups, despite seeing "the beached skulls" of other men lining the shore of the sirens' island. This journey is clearly a deadly one, but the men can't help it, so enticed are they by this song.
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it doesn't follow any set patterns of meter or rhyme. It does have some structure, however, made clear in these opening six lines: the poem consists of tercets, or three-line stanzas. In a way, this gives the poem a sense of orderly progression, suggesting that the siren is in control of this narrative.
The frequent enjambment of these lines also subtly evokes the siren's allure: as phrases rush past line breaks without pause, readers are continually pulled forward, forced down the page just as those "men" are forced overboard. Take lines 1-3 as an example:
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:The diacope and anaphora of "song," meanwhile, lends a pulsing, hypnotic rhythm to the verse that further mirrors the enchanting pull of the sirens' singing, which apparently makes men lose all good sense:
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:the song that forces men
The mythical sirens have traditionally sirens have been portrayed as frightening, villainous creatures. Yet they also speak to a very gendered anxiety: the story of the sirens revolves around women making men lose their sense of control and behave irrationally. In other words, a woman's allure is held responsible for a man's downfall. Sirens are like the original femme fatales: women who entrap men with their charms.
To that end, note the word "forces" here: the poem is drawing on the idea that the sirens are the ones with all the control in this situation, though by the poem's end readers may wonder if that's truly the case.
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Lines 7-9
the song nobody ...
... others can't remember. -
Lines 10-12
Shall I tell ...
... this bird suit? -
Lines 13-18
I don't enjoy ...
... fatal and valuable. -
Lines 19-22
I will tell ...
... help: Help me! -
Lines 23-27
Only you, only ...
... works every time.
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“Siren Song” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
Enjambment helps to pace the poem, pulling readers swiftly down the page in a way that might evoke the lure of the siren's song itself. Enjambment can also add moments of ambiguity and suspense.
The first line lines of the poem, for example, is enjambed:
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the songStretching this sentence across the linebreak introduces a little momentum and anticipation, as the reader can't know the relationship between this "song" and "everyone" until they continue on to the second line. The reader might expect the clause to end differently—"This is the one song everyone / knows," for example. Instead, it turns out that "nobody knows" it "because anyone who has heard it / is dead, and the others can't remember." Again, the use of enjambment here builds anticipation: the reader can't know what has happened to everyone "who has heard [the song]" until they've read past the line break.
Another striking enjambment comes between lines 24-25, when the speaker says,
you are unique
at last. Alas
The speaker enjambs a line across an entire stanza, adding extra emphasis as the reader lands on that ego-stroking "at last." The speaker seems to be saying not just that the listener is special, but that no one else has ever been special before—that finally, "at last," someone "unique" has come along. Once again, enjambment pulls the reader in only to abruptly pull the rug out from under them: no sooner does the reader feel "unique / at last" than the speaker makes it clear that they have fallen for the same "song" as all the others.
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “everyone / would”
- Lines 2-3: “song / that”
- Lines 4-5: “men / to”
- Lines 5-6: “squadrons / even”
- Lines 7-8: “knows / because”
- Lines 8-9: “it / is”
- Lines 10-11: “secret / and”
- Lines 11-12: “me / out”
- Lines 13-14: “here / squatting”
- Lines 14-15: “island / looking”
- Lines 15-16: “mythical / with”
- Lines 17-18: “singing / this”
- Lines 21-22: “song / is”
- Lines 24-25: “unique / at”
- Lines 25-26: “Alas / it”
- Lines 26-27: “song / but”
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Consonance
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Alliteration
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Anaphora
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Repetition
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Caesura
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Allusion
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Asyndeton
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"Siren Song" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Squadrons
- Beached
- Bird suit
- Squatting
- Picturesque
- Mythical
- Trio
- Fatal
- Alas
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(Location in poem: Line 5: “to leap overboard in squadrons”)
Large groups. The word is often used in a military context to refer to a smaller unit detached from the main group.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Siren Song”
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Form
"Siren Song" is a free verse poem whose 27 lines are broken into nine tercets. This lends the free-flowing poem some structure and might subtly reflect the speaker's control over the narrative even as she laments her supposed helplessness.
Tercets (or three-line stanzas) are a fitting choice here for another reason as well: while some stories differ, traditionally there are three named sirens in Greek myth. The speaker also refers to the sirens' singing in a "trio," implying that there are three of them on this island.
The stanzas themselves feature fairly short lines, many of which are enjambed. The combination of brief lines, frequent enjambment, and repetition grants the poem its intimate, seductive pull, encouraging readers' eyes to smoothly slide down the page from one stanza to the next.
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Meter
The poem is written in free verse, so it doesn't use a set meter. Free verse allows for a much looser, more casual rhythm, which makes the poem feel conversational and even intimate. This feeling, in turn, is part of how the speaker is able to manipulate the listener/reader into falling for her "cry for help."
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Rhyme Scheme
As a free verse poem, "Siren Song" doesn't use a rhyme scheme. As with the poem's lack of meter, this makes the poem feel casual and intimate, as though the speaker really is having a conversation with her reader/listener. This, in turn, makes what the speaker says all the more seductive: the listener/reader feels like she's talking to them, and "only" them.
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“Siren Song” Speaker
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The poem's speaker is a siren, a half-woman, half-bird creature from Greek mythology. These sirens lived on an island surrounded by cliffs and rocky shores, and they would lure sailors to their deaths by singing an enchanting song that would drive men so wild they would crash their ships—or jump overboard—trying to get to its source.
While the sirens of myth are depicted as dangerous creatures, the speaker here might be as much a victim as she is a villain. She doesn't want to be stranded in the middle of the ocean with only "these two feathery maniacs" (the other sirens) for company. Nor does she want to be singing this song that draws men to her only to endlessly let her down—both because it shows every man who tries to save her to be just as suspectable to vanity and flattery as the last, and because it leads these men to their deaths. She's essentially trapped: every time she calls for "help," another man succumbs to the "boring song" that results in her continued disappointment and isolation.
What's more, she feels like her mythical identity itself is a costume that prevents her from being seen as fully human (hence her longing to be free of her "bird suit"). This reflects the idea that women's perspectives throughout history and myth have often been ignored; the speaker is seen only as "picturesque and mythical," her own thoughts and feelings unexplored in the stories told about her.
Of course, the speaker deliberately plays up her vulnerability to reel her listener in. While she seems genuinely unhappy in her circumstances and at having to pretend to be a damsel in distress in need of saving, she's not necessarily as helpless as she appears.
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“Siren Song” Setting
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The poem takes place on the sirens' island from Greek mythology. Here, the speaker and her two fellow sirens "squat[]" indefinitely, singing to lure passing sailors. The shores of this island are marked by the "beached skulls" of men who "leap overboard in squadrons." This island, then, is a dangerous one: its rocky shores mean near-certain death for anyone who tries to approach by sea.
Beyond that, though, there's no description of the speaker's home, nor of what the sirens do there apart from "singing" their "fatal" song again and again. This might speak to the way that women's perspectives are so often ignored in the stories written about them. As far as the myths are concerned, these sirens only exist to tempt men to their doom.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Siren Song”
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Literary Context
The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (born in 1939) is best known for her award-winning dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, though she is also a prolific and critically acclaimed poet, essayist, and literary critic. Like “Siren Song,” much of her writing explores themes related to gender and oppression; she also has written often about religion, the environment, and the power of language itself.
Atwood frequently draws from mythology and fairy tales in her work, granting voices and layered perspectives to women who have been treated as submissive and helpless or as one-dimensional monsters throughout history. These include Penelope, the wife of Odysseus; Helen of Troy; the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet; and Eurydice. Atwood has found inspiration in real-life history as well: her poem "Half-Hanged Mary" adopts the voice of Mary Webster, for example, who was hanged as a witch in 1683 but survived.
“Siren Song” was published in Atwood's sixth poetry collection, You Are Happy, in 1974. This collection is split into two sections: the first is a series of poems narrated by animals, and the second is a retelling of the myth of Circe, a Greek goddess and sorceress who plays a minor role in Homer's Odyssey. Atwood’s version of the Circe myth went on to inspire Madeline Miller’s extremely successful novel Circe, which is likewise narrated by the titular goddess.
Circe was famous for turning the men who visited her island into animals, and in this sense she has a lot in common with the sirens of this poem: these are all figures demonized in myth for being predatory, sexually liberated women.
Historical Context
“Siren Song” was published in 1974. At the time, Atwood had recently divorced her first husband and was becoming increasingly interested in gender politics.
The late '60s and '70s also marked the era of second-wave feminism, which built on earlier generations' fights for suffrage and basic legal rights. Second-wave feminists fought to dismantle patriarchy and systemic sexism more broadly, pushing back on the idea that women's only purpose in life was to become obedient mothers and wives. Activists focused their efforts on issues such as women's sexuality and reproductive freedom, domestic violence, and workplace harassment.
The myth of the sirens themselves, meanwhile, emerged at a very different time and in a very different world: ancient Greece was, by and large, a decidedly patriarchal society in which women lacked many of the basic rights and protections of the modern day. Mythology itself is filled with female monsters (such as Medusa and the aforementioned Circe), whose presence suggests a certain broad societal anxiety around independent, powerful women.
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More “Siren Song” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to a recording of the poem.
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Atwood's Feminist Mythology — This essay from The Curious Reader explores the way that Atwood's feminism informs her poetic retelling of classic myths.
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"Margaret Atwood Bears Witness" — Check out a 2019 Atlantic article discussing Atwood's use of "personal testimony" in her writing.
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The Sirens of Greek Mythology — Learn more about the mythology Atwood is drawing from in "Siren Song."
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Atwood's Biography — Read about Atwood's life and check out more of her work via the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Margaret Atwood
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