B,+V+and+M

b, V and M

In “Siren Song”, by Margaret Atwood, the structure of the poem allows the tone to progress in deceptiveness. Its tone begins as mild and curious, and then turns sinister and deceptive with the help of vivid imagery. In the first two stanzas, the attitude is mild and curious, and then Atwood turns to imagery to convey the true deceptive nature of the Siren.

In “Siren Song”, by Margaret Atwood, the structure of the poem allows the tone to progress in deceptiveness. Its tone begins as curious and seductive, and then turns sinister and deceptive with the help of vivid imagery. In the first two stanzas, the attitude is mild but alluring, and then Atwood turns to imagery to convey the true deceptive nature of the Siren.

The speaker of the "Siren Song", which of course is a siren, has a sarcastic and deceptive tone. Atwood uses imagery to convey this tone. She describes the sirens as “picturesque and mythical” so the reader can visualize them as beautiful, heavenly creatures. Also she describes the setting as the beach of an island, which is clearly a beautiful place to be. Even so, the siren claims to be bored and unhappy with its current state, despite the picturesque descriptions of the siren and its surroundings. The siren is sarcastic in this way because she is complaining about her perfection and “valuable song”, when she is fully aware that she is a marvelous creature. The siren uses the complaints to deceive the men into thinking that they can "help" the sirens, when in fact, the sirens do not need to be helped from anything. The imagery Atwood provides helps to convey the sarcasm and deception of the siren.

====Margaret Atwood’s use of tone and the structure of words in her poem “Siren Song” assist the reader in comprehending the poem. When the poem begins, there is a sense of mystery and temptation. The Siren narrating the poem boldly states that this is “the song nobody knows/because anyone who had heard it/is dead.” All of the men who are hearing this song while they are out at sea are curious to find out the Siren's secret and cannot resist her song. This seductive tone that the singer uses is found alluring to passing sailors, which peaks their curiosity. As the poem continues, so does the tone but changes from alluring to desperate for help. In line twenty-two, the tone of the poem begins to shift once the woman appears to be helpless. Both the tone and structure of the poem help convey the meaning of this poem. The reader is able to pick up on the mood change of the narrator and the background of the poem because of the changes in the tone and line structure in “Siren Song.”====

One of the most apparent tones in the piece is seductive. Atwood is describing how the sirens tempt the men at sea to listen to their song, and to come closer to them only to find out they are going to die. A perfect example of how the seductiveness is portrayed is through the structure of the poem. Atwood starts out by bluntly describing what the poem is going to be about. In the next section, the siren states that it forces men to drown themselves even though they know men have made the mistake of listening to their song before. Next, the siren begins to lure the man in by asking him if he would like to know a secret. In the small section following that, the siren states that she will only tell the secret to the man alone. Slowly, both the reader and the man who the siren is talking to are becoming tempted to continue to listen/follow the song. The siren then states that the man is the only person who can help her. This becomes the ultimate temptation, and is said the most seductively out of all the other sections in the poem. Following this, the siren says that, “Alas it is a boring song, but it works every time.” The poem ends with the sense that the siren feels superior to the man since she seduced him and caused his death.

CONCLUSION: Overall, description and structure play an extremely important role in being able to further text interpretation. They both enhance the tone greatly and transform the meaning of the poem. Atwood’s word choice is what makes this piece as rich as it is.