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Siren

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Mythical sea-nymphs whose enchanting songs lure sailors to shipwreck and death, blending beauty with lethal seduction.

Detailed Definition
Sirens in poetry symbolize the irresistible pull of forbidden knowledge and the danger of surrendering reason to emotion. Their songs appear in epic and modernist verse as metaphors for artistic obsession, erotic peril, and the self-destructive allure of transcendence.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Homer’s Odyssey, the sirens sing: “Come closer, noble Odysseus, / To hear our song”; in Tennyson’s “The Lotos-Eaters,” the sirens’ song lures men to forgetful sleep; in Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” the sirens are the crowd that applauds her death; in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” the goblins’ cries are siren songs of temptation; in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “The Blessed Damozel,” the damozel sings like a siren across the veil; in Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died,” the silence is the siren’s final note.
Additional Notes
Siren is a mythic sea-nymph whose enchanting song lures sailors to shipwreck and death, blending beauty with lethal seduction. In folklore, sirens were not always fish-tailed—early depictions showed bird-women. In poetry, they represent the danger of allure, the seduction of oblivion, and the power of voice as weapon. Poets use them to explore desire, distraction, and the fatal beauty of surrender.
Also Known As
Siren Song Sea Witch
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