A poem, like all other works of art, may appear as an inter-subjective truth, an intricate thread of images, a surreal yet realistic expression, and as a “creative fact” according to Virginia Woolf. In canon literature, a good poem is usually that which has fine structure, imagery, meaning and relevance; an art, which has sprung out not only of personal necessities but out of socio-cultural quagmires. Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence transcends the mediocre. It creates a bombarding mood that runs through the whole text, thus, transforming the readers to a reality it is presenting.

The poem starts with the use of a device called apostrophe (a figure of speech where one talks to or addresses an inanimate object). Here the “I” persona talks to his “old friend.”

And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains

Apparently, this is not the first time that the speaker talks with his “old friend,” darkness. He had had “talks” with it since a time unspecified, suggesting a perpetual moments

And whispered in the Sound of Silence.

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

This is a common affliction of a city life—people lose individuality instead of honing them. In the “naked night” he saw all those people who profess knowledge in talking but has nothing to say, really; people who claims wisdom but are incapable of understanding; and those that write songs, or poems, but has no meaning as no voice shares with it, no language to use. A lack of the freedom of movement. The depth of tension presented may mean that many people are so busy doing their own ‘walks of life’ yet they hardly live after all. No one even dared break away from that silent and quiet desperation in life. None of the probably more than ten thousand people has the courage to disturb the Sound of Silence, to stop for a while and try to interrupt the prison that invites every one to enter into.

Some topics in this essay:
Sound Silence, Silence Apparently, Echoed Silence, Creator Ex, Virginia Woolf, sound silence, ten thousand people, thousand people, ten thousand, simon’s sound silence, disturb sound silence, Simon’s Sound, Paul Simon’s, talks “old friend”, split night, disturb sound, neon lights, paul simon’s sound, tenement halls, flash neon, talks “old, “old friend”,