Poem Outline - Chapter 8 - "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood

In "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood, a siren speaks in first person to a passing man, asking if he wishes to learn her song and therefore killing him in the end.


The use of a siren from Greek mythology calls to mind how a woman can lure a man to her using a seemingly helpless facade and by making him feel that he can help her.

• "I don't enjoy it here / squatting on this island" (13-14)

The siren calls out to the man saying that she does not like her island. The idea of "squatting" sounds uncomfortable, extending her dislike of the island into a physical discomfort as well as a mental one. This image can allude to how a woman may try to make a man feel as if she is uncomfortable in her current situation and that she wants a change in her life.

• "This song / is a cry for help: Help me! / Only you, only you can, / you are unique / at last" (21-25)

The siren explains to the man that she sings so that she can be helped to escape. The use for the command "Help me!" emphasizes how serious she is about this endeavor. She instructs the man to help her and then continues to make him feel that he is needed by saying that he is the only one who can save her. When the siren tells the man "you are unique" it is in response to him learning the song and telling him he is the only one who knows it and also that he is the only one who can save her. Adding "at last" makes it seem as if the man was trying to become unique and finally succeeded on his quest.


The diction in the poem points to how sirens are portrayed in mythology.

• "looking picturesque and mythical" (15)

The siren describes herself as "looking picturesque and mythical". Picturesque relates to her beauty, for sirens are described as beautiful young maidens who sing to lure in men. The idea that she describes herself as "mythical" points to the idea that she knows that she is partially fictitious and lives in the mind of those who see her.

• "fatal and valuable" (18)

The trio of sirens is described as "fatal and valuable". The part about them being fatal exposes their dark side: the fact that they kill those who are lured in by their song. It should be noted that "anyone who has heard [the song] is dead" (9). This ties in with the mention of  men leaping "overboard [...] even though they see beached skulls", for the men cannot control themselves around the song of the siren (5-6). This is shown in The Odyssey and many other Greek stories. Describing her and the other two sirens as valuable places importance on them all. It gives them the quality of needing respect.

The poem itself can be interpreted as the song that the siren sings to the man.

• "This is the one song everyone / would like to learn" (1-2)

The siren starts the poem saying this line. There are two explanations to this. The "this" could be referring to the title, as if the siren knows that the poem is titled "Siren Song" and points to this as a base for the poem. "This" could also be referring directly to the poem as if to say that the poem that she is telling to the reader is the song of the siren. This can be explained by the end of the poem.

• "Alas / it is a boring song / but it works every time" (25-27)

This ending seems to support the idea that the poem itself is the titular "Siren Song". The siren says "but it works every time", suggesting that the man who she was just speaking to was killed by her and the two other sirens just like the others. She seems genuinely full of pity towards the man she kills and those she has killed before, expressed through her use of "alas" at the start of the sentence. She finds the song "boring" because she has sung it so many times and repeated it to so many man over the years.