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."".
Hello darkness my old friend.
I've come to talk with you again.
Because a vision softly creeping.
Left its seeds while I was sleeping.
And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains.
Within the Sound of Silence.
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 of seclusion by the speaker. Talking with silence would mean solitude, loneliness if not ennui. The reason for this resort to solitude was a vision that keeps on bothering him. He was looking for solace which he found being alone; no one seems to understand Him. Here we can see him regressing "a defensive reaction of the human psyche to flounce away, by retreating to earlier stages of life, a threatening stimuli, which in this case is the vision. The "seeds- that was bequeathed to him while unaware symbolize a burgeoning message that will soon sprout in the "fullness of time- (Gal. 4:4). Nevertheless, it was still imprisoned "within the sound of silence."".
In restless dreams I walked alone.
Narrow streets of cobblestones.
Beneath a halo of a street lamp.