“Siren Song”

• Originally Published: 1974
• Form/Meter: Free verse in 9 tercets
• Literary Devices: Humor; irony; allusion; imagery
• Central Concern: With irony, the speaker of the poem (a Siren) considers the power of the siren song.

Margaret Atwood, Poet

• Bio: Born in 1939; a native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; graduate of Victoria College and Harvard University; writes poetry, novels, short fiction, essays, criticism, and nonfiction books; recipient of the Franz Kafka International Literary Award, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Booker Prize, among other awards
• Other Works: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985); The Blind Assassin (2002); Oryx and Crake (2008); “Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet” (2009)

THEMES

• The Influence of Ego on the Perception of Helplessness
• Woman as Weapon
• Art and the Island