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Historical and cultural context of Odyssey
Stories from the Odyssey
The odyssey: books 1-4
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Throughout modern history the ancient Greeks and their stories have influenced our culture and way of life. Many of the ancient Greek myths are those of caution that teach us moral lessons. For example, the myth of Odysseus and the sirens, told by Homer in The Odyssey, teaches us to resist the urge to indulge in temptations. Odysseus and his crew are travelling near the island of the sirens when Odysseus plugs the ears of his crewmates with beeswax and has them tie him to the mast so that he can listen to the sirens’ song and not crash their ship onto the rocks as they pass the island. Odysseus and his crew safely pass the island of the sirens without any casualties and continue on their journey home. Author Margaret Atwood and artist John William Waterhouse both display their brilliant ideas about the myth of Odysseus and the sirens using poetry and painting. Both Ulysses and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse and “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood use the myth of the sirens to show that during their lives, people often encounter bad temptations that can lead to their demise and should pay no attention to such temptations.
Margaret Atwood wrote and published “Siren Song” in 1974. The poem vividly describes a siren singing a song about a different song, which is irresistible to men. The siren narrating the poem cunningly pretends to sing a harmless song that is actually the irresistible song that she sings about (Nada). The siren wishes to tempt the reader into coming closer to her and feigns helplessness and distress in order to lure the reader onto her island. The siren also compliments the reader in order to coerce them to come closer. Despite the siren’s clearly dark intentions the poem has a somewhat lighter undertone creat...
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...ader in “Siren Song” ultimately falls prey to the siren narrator. Despite many changes to the culture of the western world the morals and ideals of the ancient Greek poets and writers continue on even today just as prevalent as they did before. The influence and prestige of the ancient Greek world still soldiers on even in this rapidly changing modern world and will continue to do so.
Works Cited
"AP Lit." : "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood along with Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
"John William Waterhouse Biography." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
"John William Waterhouse's Ulysses and the Sirens." John William Waterhouse's Ulysses and the Sirens. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
"J.W. Waterhouse." Ulysses and the Sirens. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
"Margaret Atwood." Margaret Atwood. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
The story of Odysseus' encounter with the Sirens and their enchanting but deadly song appears in Greek epic poetry in Homers Odyssey. The Sirens in the ‘Siren Song’ by Margaret Atwood,are portrayed in a variety of ways. The Sirens are lethal,underprivileged and deluding.
The Sirens in the Odyssey represent more than just a maritime danger to the passing ship. They are the desires of man that he cannot have. The Sirens can also be construed as forbidden knowledge or some other taboo object. Whatever these singing women actually are, the sailors are wise to avoid them. As usual, the wily Odysseus cheats at the rules of the game by listening to their song under the restraints constructed by his crew.
Sirens: the dangerous, yet beautiful majestic creatures of the sea, who led nearby sailors to shipwreck with their enchanting voices. Some say voices can’t entice people enough to lead them overboard to their death, but those people have not had the dreadful pleasure of coming in contact with the dangerously, scary sirens. Those who have read Homer’s text, “The Odyssey,” know how dangerous these creatures can be. As evidenced from Homer’s text, sirens have many strengths, they do many things to show strengths also, and finally, as shown in the text, it's obvious they play the role as antagonists.
This argument will be constructed, first, with an outline of Sirens’s plot, which is particularly necessary considering its sprawling nature. Following this overview, the connection between The Dispossessed and Sirens will be expounded upon regarding each novel’s handling of time. This chiefly involves a discussion of the Sequential and Simultaneous temporal perspectives detailed in The Dispossessed and their application to Sirens. Where the two works diverge is found within the reconciliation between those two perspectives. In The Dispossessed, the reconciliation lies more in the realm of mathematics and theory. In Sirens, the character Winston Niles Rumfoord serves as a more tangible manifestation of the relationship between Sequence and Simultaneity. How Rumfoord reconciles these two perspectives will be explored via his founding of the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, his existential attitudes, and the parallels that can be drawn to other mythologies and traditions.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
Odysseus uses his brain to sail past the Sirens without being entranced by their sweet song. A Siren is a bird-woman who bewitches everyone that approaches. The Siren women sing a seductive song. Their song has many powers. As Nugent says “as in the days of the musician Orpheus, music still has power to soothe the savage beast, to ally anxiety, and to connect with the divine through contemplation” (Nugent 45-54). Circe tells Odysseus, “There is no homecoming for the man who draws near them unawares and hears the Siren’s voices” (Homer XII, 40). . Odysseus follows the advice Circe gave him to put beeswax in his men’s ears so they will not be entranced. Odysseus then tells his men “but she instructed me alone to hear their voices…”(XII, 160), when, truthfully, Circe states, “But if you wish to listen yourself, make them bind you hand and foot on board and place you upright by the housing of the mast, with the rope’s ends lashed to the mast itself”(XII, 49). In this way, Odysseus is being selfish only wishes to know the Siren’s sing so he will...
...g of the Sirens and end up as one of the corpses in their “meadow.” The Sirens have the power to “spellbind any man alive” with their “high, thrilling songs” and preventing them from ever making it home. A man lured by the Sirens will never see his wife or “happy children” again. His story will be over, and he will be lost forever. The Greeks rely on their story and legacy to retain their identity and memory after death. The Sirens represent distractions that lure travellers from their journey and decrease or completely remove their determination to return home. When a man stays true to his purpose and avoids any Siren-like distractions, he lives and comes home to a wonderful family. When a man makes himself susceptible to any Siren’s call, be it from an actual Siren or just something tempting enough to sway him from his task, he is destined to fail and be forgotten.
On our journeys we all must resist, or give into, temptations that may hinder our ascent to our goal. All people give into temptation at least once in their lives. One time that Odysseus gave into temptation was when he listened to the Sirens’ songs. We don’t always collapse into temptation, like when Odysseus wanted so badly to kill the suitors but forced himself to wait for the right time. Another time Odysseus defied temptation was when he refused to reveal himself to the people but ceased expose himself until he felt it was the right time. Temptation is not the only thing to obstruct our expedition.
...y sirens represent half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and ties him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voice without being driven to suicide. In this story the women weeping over Lautaro were compared to the sirens, and some sailors going to tie themselves to the mainmast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. There is a contrast of these stories with the quotes from the villagers.
Works Consulted: Fairhall, James. James Joyce and the Question of History. Cambridge University Press. New York, New York: 1993. Garrett, Peter K., ed.
Tennyson, Alfred. "Ulysses." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th ed.
Santos, Marlisa. "To Kill A Mockingbird." Bloom, Harold. The Hero's Journey. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. 207-213.
In the poem "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the readers are shown a great king in the later years of his life. The reader finds Ulysses reflecting on the glorious days of his youth and planning that by some means he will obtain those glorious times again. He refuses to accept a future of growing old and ruling his kingdom. Ulysses will not let the rest of his life pass him by just sitting still on his throne, doing the mundane job of ruling a kingdom. Ulysses has reached the twilight years in his life and yet he refuses to give in to the fate that time has for all men.
'Ulysses' is both a lament and an inspiring poem. Even modern readers who are not so familiar with the classics, can visualize the heroic legend of Ulysses, and so is not prepared for what he finds in the poem— not Ulysses the hero but Ulysses the man.
Greenblatt, Stephen, eds. The Norton Anthology English Literature. 9th ed. Crawfordsville: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 2012. Print.