I wasn’t familiar with this painting until I found it in my illustrated Odyssey, and I was blown away by it. I was previously unfamiliar with the artist, Herbert James Draper, which possibly makes me an uncouth philistine, or at least absent that day in art history. Regardless, the situation has been remedied, and I’m exploring more of his work.
I’m delighted by this neoclassicist, his attraction to water and mythical creatures and characters has me absolutely smitten.
I love the contrast of the wildness in the eyes of the men and the tension in their bodies with the beautiful lines of the sirens’ bodies, persistently languid as they drape themselves into the ship while the men fight the temptation to join them.
I think of T. S. Eliot and Prufrock, the beautiful lines that speak to so many, “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.”
The shipmate in the foreground is the figure that calls these lines to my mind with his focused gaze undistracted, staring straight ahead while the others cast theirs wildly up to keep the sirens out of their line of sight.
There’s a visual suggestion that the sirens are fish in the water but grow legs out of it; perhaps air, not land is what brings about this change. The differences among the three sirens intrigue me, especially the one who’s the farthest to the viewer’s right. Does she have blue scales that are falling away or evaporating into the air? Her legs are formed, but she’s not using them like the central siren, climbing on her knees, beautifully nude while we see the green of the siren on the left, seafoam into the water with no suggestion of legs.
A more thoughtful observation of the sirens reveals that the one who appears to be mid-transformation is the only one whose hair is blowing in the wind. Interesting.
The wave rising behind the ship speaks of yet more danger lurking in the background.
I’m linking this to my piece about Circe, which is also one of the images in my illustrated Odyssey.
This is for Raymond’s unofficial challenge:
About the Creator
Harper Lewis
Intrusive rhyme bothers me, except as a weapon.
Intertextuality is my passion.
Formalist/ New Critical are my guiding theories.
My words are mine, not a robot’s.
MA English literature, CofC
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