Allusion And Irony In Margaret Atwood's Siren Song

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Have you ever been tricked? Like when something seems innocent, but is actually the opposite? In Siren Song, Margaret Atwood uses allusion and irony to show a theme of deception. In the first part of the poem, Margaret Atwood alludes to stories about sirens, mythological creatures known for luring sailors to their deaths. This is done by mentioning what they were about, and giving some details about them. Atwood says “The song that forces men/To leap overboard in squadrons/Even though they see the beached skulls.” (Atwood 4-6) It also mentions the danger of the sirens and their hypnotic songs, as the myths state. As the poem goes on, irony becomes more and more present, as the speaker, who is implied to be a siren by the wording of the poem,

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