Comparing Margaret Atwood's Siren Song And Richard Cory

Many times, people tend to judge things by their exterior appearance. Of course, it is only natural for one’s attention to be caught by something or someone aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. However, just because the superficiality of an object or entity is eye-catching, it does not always mean the content or value is of the same measure. For that reason, the phrase “never judge a book by its cover,” fits perfectly well regarding this subject matter. Because the outer presentation is appealing, one assumes that whatever lies within is just as appealing. Relatively, an individual is also apt to judge another individual by their physical features and attire, and presume their substance to be of equivalence. Thankfully, Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” (1974) and Edwin Arlington Robinson’s

In “Siren Song,” one of the three Sirens tells us of a song that nobody knows or remembers; that all men are curious about. In “Richard Cory,” the speaker is one of the townspeople that speaks for all of them and admires a man of wealth, Richard Cory. Showing the implications, Atwood and Robinson address the notion that everything isn’t always what it seems to be by using foreshadow, irony, and point of view. Firstly, Atwood and Robinson use foreshadow to underscore that not all good things end well by displaying the good while, also, hinting at the bad, which ultimately lead to an unfortunate ending. In the second stanza of Atwood’s “Siren Song,” the Siren discloses that men who cross their path are in grave danger, despite seeing the warning signs: “[T]he song that forces men / to leap overboard […] / even though they see the / beached skulls” (Atwood 6, 7, 9, and 10).