The Sound That Fills “The Sound of Silence” The record hit still played to this day, The Sound Of Silence as sung by Simon and Garfunkel, is appreciated for its seemingly dark but encouraging meaning and chord progressions that delve into the sensitive parts of the heart. Before one can hope to understand the meaning of the song, the social context of the song must be understood. At the time of writing this piece, Paul Simon witnessed the assassination of JFK and provided the inspiration to start writing this dark, yet inspirational song. At the time of the record’s release, the anti-war movement against the Vietnam conflict was in full swing as well. The first verse of the song,
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
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The first two lines tell us that the speaker is no stranger to the darkness in his room and that he is comfortable with it. He reflects on his dream and that it may be more true than he believes. During a time of counterculture and antiwar, this dream could have been anything from drug-induced to a protest gone wrong. However, the following verses clarify what his dream was about and why it keeps him up at night.
The song continuously mentions both a “neon light” and a “neon god” which can stand for the television, rapidly available since the 1950’s. The TV quickly brought entertainment as well as news inside the home at a very rapid rate. When the song says,
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe
...ow this dream, once big and important is turned into a merely bothersome thought. This shows how the poet is no longer inspired to achieve this dream. Moreover, the phrase ‘I’m folding up my little dreams tonight, within my heart’ further describes her desperation (7). The act of folding describes her urge to make the dream disappear and tuck it out of her sight. This obviously shows how she does not want to confront it any longer.
The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial issues in American history. It is no secret that the American public was not in favor of this war, which is why the government’s decision to keep the US involved for over ten years created such a disconnect between America’s people and their government. In the third verse the Temptations sing, “People all over the world are shouting 'End the war.'” The Temptations bravely attack the government, addressing their continuation of a war no one wants. Although The Temptations avoid explicitly naming the war, or the government as the guilty party, it is evident that this is a criticism, or at least an acknowledgement of a predicament America found itself in.
Why is it always night, why are his thoughts always dark, negative. There is no more sun, there goes happiness, and it leaves him feeling sad and empty, and maybe even worthless. This individual also suffers from sleep disturbance, such as insomnia, indicated by the line “When you can 't sleep, well, you can 't dream, when you can 't dream, well, what 's life mean?” This line also further validates the disruptive thought patterns, and strengthens the indication of his feelings of worthlessness, and that his life has no meaning. The line “Gone too far and yeah, I 'm gone again, It 's gone on too long, tell you how it ends,” implies that he is exhausted both mentally and physically from the drain that depression has on someone, and the fact that he can’t sleep further encourage his dysfunctional thought processes. In the first verse he declares, “I 'm 20 stories up, yeah, I 'm up at the top, I 'll polish off this bottle, now it 's pushing me off, Asphalt to me has never looked so soft,” now he’s looking down from a twenty story building perhaps hoping that he can finely sleep once he reaches the
his goal is to bring back proof of the wolves decimating effect on the northern
In this song there can be many themes, but one that stood out was that the people and events in one’s life shape them for the future. This could be for better or for worse, but in his case it all worked out. A big event that is known to have changed his life for the better sadly was his brother’s death. This event made him notice that a life of crime wasn’t for him. Another major aspect of his life is his mother, especially since he dedicated this song to her. In this song to tell us about what his
All the influences above shaped Never Cry Wolf into the work it became to be. Mowat conveys many themes in the book, but one central theme is conveyed throughout the entire book. The theme conveyed is how humans are not inherently superior to other animals even though it is a common perception made by humans (Never Cry Wolf). Many literary aspects are used to convey this central theme. Mowat uses a humorous tone, the description of the setting, and characters, to convey the theme of how humans are not inherently superior to other animals.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
The 1960s was the era of rebellion. It was a time when views of many people started to change dramatically as unexpected things were happening from the Cold War to the assassinations of nation’s leaders. So within this disturbed era, many citizens started to rebel and question the authorities saying that they were ruining the country. The younger generation, especially, stood firmly in front to lead the action to change the ideas of the older generation. One of the main methods they used to speak their opinions was through music and we can see the power it had on the people through one of the main protest anthems called “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969. The song speaks out to the elite controlled America and becomes one of many instances of the younger generation questioning and rebelling against the authority in the late 1960s. They send people a message that the citizens of United States do not live in a fair world and the authorities are not doing their jobs. By creating images through the comparative and descriptive lyrics such as who “waves the flag” , and “some folks are born with silver spoons in hand”, its repetition of the chorus “it ain’t me” and the instrumentation of the song which sounds like the cry of the working class to signify that the Vietnam War is a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight, this song by the Creedence Clearwater Revival shouts to the world that the elite-controlled America is unfair as it can get; and becomes a big part of the counterculture movement. However, contrary to the message of the song, challenges to authority and privilege did not come exclusively from the working class. Rather, members of the upper class were also involved in opposition movements, for instance vi...
In “I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died” by Emily Dickinson the iambic meter is used.
While examining his lyrics further, the first eye opener is "I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit." (Fiasco) In this instance, Fiasco was talking about the Vietnam war. It came with great controversy since many Americans believe this fight was pointless, as it came with no gain to the U.S. This civil war came with a great cost, accordingly "economists report the Vietnam War cost the U.S. $111 billion during war time, which calculates to $738 billion by 2011 standards." (Tucker) With such a costly war, only
As Americans we are passionate about “our American way of life” and how our government functions. Throughout history, our country has worked to spread democracy throughout the world. The second verse contains the lyrics, “Just a mission made of guns that paint rainbows in Vietnam”, bringing flashbacks to the Vietnam War. During this time, the United States
The 1960’s was a time of war and fear for the United States and many people were turning their accusations towards the government. “Masters of War” was written by Bob Dylan in late 1962 and early 1963. The focus of this song is a protest against the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis that was happening during the early 1960’s. The song is protesting on the American government having its citizens live in fear of a constant attack and hiding behind their shroud, unaffected by anything that would happen to the people. It shook the nation with its fierce and angry tone against the “military industrial complex.” Dylan’s lyrics stated that it was not contained by declaring a pointless war and not taking responsibility for the problems it was causing. “Masters of War” is a powerful song against the government and the military. The protest song “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan highlights how the looming aspect of the Cold War affected the people of the United States and demonstrates Dylan’s view on the governments involved.
In John Donne’s sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud” death is closely examined and Donne writes about his views on death and his belief that people should not live in fear of death, but embrace it. “Death, Be Not Proud” is a Shakespearean sonnet that consists of three quatrains and one concluding couplet, of which I individually analyzed each quatrain and the couplet to elucidate Donne’s arguments with death. Donne converses with death, and argues that death is not the universal destroyer of life. He elaborates on the conflict with death in each quatrain through the use of imagery, figurative language, and structure. These elements not only increase the power of Donne’s message, but also symbolize the meaning of hope of eternal life as the ultimate escape to death.
In the first stanza of the song, it is showing the speaker had feelings of remoteness while he was talking to his old friend ‘darkness’ for unspecified period of time. Talking with silence, where stillness has taken place, can be defined as solitude and loneliness. The reason behind the speaker resort to solitude and loneliness is because a vision was one that gives distress on him. In this case, if vision acts as a threat that oppresses and retreats instead of progressing and moving forwards to bright future, solace has to be a shelter which needs to be in place to defend one’s loneliness and feeling of isolation. “walked alone” in the second stanza, it seems that the speaker has a dream and shows an earnest craving to escape from lethargic ennui and weariness. No one would understand his feeling until the right time comes. (Simon, 1964, par. 1, 2)
Urvashi Butalia in her book, The Other Side of Silence, attempts to analyze the partition in Indian society, through an oral history of Indian experiences. The collection of traumatic events from those people who lived through the partition gives insight on how history has enveloped these silences decades later. Furthermore, the movie 1947 Earth reveals the bitterness of partition and its effect of violence on certain characters. The most intriguing character which elucidates the silence of the partition is the child, Lenny. Lenny in particular the narrator of the story, serves as a medium to the intangibility created by the partition. The intangibility being love and violence, how can people who grew up together to love each other hate one another amidst religion? This question is best depicted through the innocence of a child, Lenny. Through her interactions with her friends, the doll, and the Lahore Park, we see silence elucidated as comfort of not knowing, or the pain from the separation of comfort and silence from an unspoken truth.