Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- What kind of voice does the speaker use for the poem? Why is she not your typical Siren?
- How does the poem's free verse help to update the Siren myth for us? Would the poem have sounded any different with a prescribed meter?
- How does Atwood turn the predator-prey theme on its head by the end of the poem? What seems to be the major point behind it all?
- Why does the speaker keep repeating clauses like "the song" and "only you"? What's she trying to do with all the anaphora?
- Do you feel bad for the Siren at any point of the poem? If so, how does the speaker manage to make us feel sympathetic toward her internal conflict?