I AM
AMYEM
English Major, lifelong learner, impractical perfectionist.
Painting: Iris Fields - Paul Chester
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Painting: Iris Fields - Paul Chester
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Circe and the sirens are a staple of Greek mythology. They are both temptresses that lure in men and either kidnap them, like Circe, or send them to their doom, like sirens. It is interesting for Louise Glück to include these staples in her poems and how she ties it into the topic of adultery. The title of Circe's Torment contains multiple interpretations in its own way - the torment Circle inflicts upon her men, but the poem looks at the torment of herself. Circe's Torment is focused on the regret she feels of being in an adulterous relationship with a married man. The first four lines are full of regret of her loving a man "in his absence and his presence". She regrets the law of marriage that forbids her from keeping him as her own. In the story of Circe in The Oydssey, she captures all of Odysseus' men and turns them into pigs, and keeps Odysseus in a trance before he is convinced to leave. Her power is stripped as she cannot turn him - in a literal sense of turning him into a pig alongside his shipmates - into a man that leaves his wife for her. Her internal torment of jealousy and unrequited devotion comes to a final climax of refusing him to love his wife, subjecting him to torment "I refuse you sleep again / If I cannot have you". It is her promise, fueled by jealousy, to punish him for his incomplete fidelity to the woman he is committing infidelity with. As "Circe's Torment" is a reversal on the story of Circe, so is "Siren" a reversal on who sirens are known to capture. Sirens are also known in the epic of Odysseus. They are very similar to Circe - a temptress, a type of nymphomaniac, lustrous. Sirens usually capture and torment men, particularly sailors. However, in Glück's poem, she wishes for the torment of the woman. She explicitly states she wanted his wife to suffer, and later: "I wanted her life to be like a play / In which all the parts are sad parts". The interesting thing about "Siren", however, is the humanity within the siren as a narrator. She recognizes her jealousy and her toxicity of this feeling and behavior - "Does a a good person / Think this way?" She also realizes this as she wishes to cut out the humanity from her, because if she didn't feel so much then maybe she wouldn't feel bad at all. She feels guilt, but almost blames the jealousy that has driven her mad on the man, because before all this she used to be a waitress, as if to symbolize her purity and goodness, or justifies it. It also challenges the trope of The Other Woman. That adultery takes one, and its typically the accomplice and not the perpetrator. "Siren" and "Circe's Torment" look at the humanity of these perceived remorseless seductresses. It unravels the stagnant, almost inhuman like traits of the other woman - especially the notion that they are seemingly cold-blooded and almost proud of what they're doing.
5 Comments
10/12/2019 04:08:18 pm
I like your references to The Odyssey in your post, so good job with that. The pictures matched as well.
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Jaimey Bly
10/13/2019 08:00:05 am
I really like the pictures that you had. They fit the theme of the two poems. Also, I liked how you used jealously. I also did my reflection on these two poems and I did not think use jealously in my reflection. It brings a different perspective to the reading.
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Cassidy Mustard :)
10/13/2019 04:53:51 pm
I really liked how you used The Odyssey to connected a lot of the poetry. I also am glad that you went into a little bit of detail as to how it did connect, because I have never actually read it (and don't really know much about it) and you explaining things a little more helped me also make the connection you were!
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Regina Tantlinger
10/13/2019 05:03:28 pm
Loved your last line "It unravels the stagnant, almost inhuman like traits of the other woman - especially the notion that they are seemingly cold-blooded and almost proud of what they're doing." So often, the "Other Woman" is blamed for what happened, even though the majority of the time, the man started this relationship. He pursued this other woman, instead of his wife, and made her fall in love with him. Once she finds out about the wife, she has given so much of herself, that leaving the realtionship is too hard to do. You did a great job exploring this. Loved reading it.
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Hayley Embry
10/13/2019 06:52:04 pm
You made a great analysis and picture connection. I remember learning about Greek mythology my freshman year of high school. Looking back, I really did not understand or care to learn, but now I appreciate greek mythology more. It is nice to learn that women held such power that no one realized. It is definitely a boss type move. Looking at the pictures you chose, the woman is the focal point and comparing it to our discussion of the literary cannon, where women weren't the focal point, we see how much our society has changed!
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Meet Amy -This blog is to share insights into things I'm reading or studying. Feel free to share your input! Archives
October 2020
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