Sounds of Silence oxymoron: how can silence have sound?

~Simon and Garfunkel

Hello darkness, my old friend apostrophe: speaker knows darkness well, “old friend”
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping personification: vision creeps and has seeds, like an ivy
Left its seeds while I was sleeping that covers and crowds out other plants
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence allilteration: soft sounds like whispers

In restless dreams I walked alone imagery: lonely person walking on an empty street,
single Narrow streets of cobblestone light shining, cold and drizzly all emphasize idea of
'Neath the halo of a street lamp loneliness, emptiness
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light imagery:
words are
That split the night violent, breaking the quiet emptiness
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more hyperbole: really 10,000? Effect is large masses
People talking without speaking of people as if everyone is doing it
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share how can people do these things? Paradox:
And no one dared what do they mean? People talk but say nothing
Disturb the sound of silence important; people hear words but don’t really
listen; people write but no one shares

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence
the words are simply lost in the deep well
apostrophe: now addresses the people
simile: compares silence to cancer—effect is
silence is potentially deadly and spreads quickly
Are the 3 lines above about silence?
simile: words fall like silent raindrops, no one
listens, no one wants his help
metaphor comparing silence to well—effect that

And the people bowed and prayed imagery: effect is the mass of people acting
To the neon god they made together in their worship
And the sign flashed out its warning personification: neon sign is a god, this is what
In the words that it was forming the people worship
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls" imagery; what is written on subway walls and
And whispered in the sounds of silence tenement halls? Graffiti, the words of prophets,
those who predict the future. And we know what those messages say.
Now, how do you put it together in an essay?

1. The summary of the lyrics is easy. Just summarize each stanza in a sentence or
two.
2. Then look at the devices. What would you pick to analyze?
a. Imagery is important—the idea of loneliness, emptiness, the people not
talking, listening, sharing.
b. The similes and metaphor are in the same stanza. Do they support one
another? Are they related in some way?
c. Apostrophe is found twice. Why is the darkness a friend? Could the
darkness be symbolic of something?
3. Tone and theme
a. Tone: old friend, softly creeping, sound of silence, dreams, fools,
cancer… there is a shift in the tone from acceptance and comfort with
the darkness and silence to frustration and helplessness
b. What is the meaning of the poem? The 3 lines about the people are
important. What do they say about mankind? What do they do
together? Pray to neon gods. What do neon signs advertise? Things we
“need” as consumers. Meanwhile, we lose the important things in life
such as real communication. Where do people choose to communicate?
In graffiti. A possible theme is that people are so caught up in their
attempt to accumulate success and material wealth that they have lost
the ability to really communicate which may lead to the destruction of
mankind, (as predicted by the graffiti). Could this be supported by the
whole poem? How? I would have to go back and look at how this is
shown.