SONGS

Week 14
a. The Sound of Silence

b. Imagine
“The Sound of
Silence”
By:
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
 THE SOUND OF SILENCE

PAUL SIMON &

ART GARFUNKEL

● Simon as singer songwriter and

Garfunkel as singer were
American folk-rock duo.

● They met in Queens, New York in

1953 where they learned to
harmonize together and began
writing material.
 THE SOUND OF SILENCE

PAUL SIMON &

ART GARFUNKEL

● In June 1965, with a new version

of “The Sound of Silence”, the duo
reunited and this became one of
their biggest hits which had
reached number one single charts
worldwide.
 THE SOUND OF SILENCE

❏ The poem consists of five stanzas

in which the poet describes the
conflict between spiritual and
material values in our modern
world.

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
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏The poem begins with an
address to darkness.
❏The narrator says that he has
come to talk to it because a
certain vision has planted its
seeds in his brain while he was
sleeping.
❏The vision still remains there in
the sound of silence.

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
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏The singer seems to realise what
we are in essence – lonely
people, living in the darkness, in
the void.
❏Maybe we are aware we are
familiar with the darkness , but he
has had a “vision softly creeping”
, a sort of inspiring dream that
has triggered a sort of
self-awareness, of enlightenment

In restless dreams I walked
alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and
damp
When my eyes were stabbed by
the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏This might mean that the
more enlightened we are , the
lonelier we become.
❏It is dark, cold and wet, and
he “Turned my collar to the
cold and damp” to highlight
that we everybody seems
obliged to accept bad
conditions.

In restless dreams I walked
alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and
damp
When my eyes were stabbed by
the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏Suddenly the “neon light” hit his
eyes, i.e. something arrived to
distract him (he is still alone)
from his lonely feelings. .
❏This refers to the deceitful
nature of life that may prevent
us from realising the
emptiness or alienation of our
lives.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe
more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices
never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏Now the sharp light allows him to see a
lot people are talking without speaking
and hearing without listening. Some of
them are even writing songs that will
never be sung.
❏Our meaningless existence applies to
everyone else, we fail to communicate,
to enter into relationships with others.
❏The complete impersonality of a crowd
is portrayed : not only are we lonely
when we are alone, but we are also
alone even when we are surrounded
by other people.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe
more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices
never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏Unfortunately, many of us don’t
really pay attention to the content
of what we hear or say.
❏It is an image painted in the
1960s but it anticipates what is
happening in our present society:
people next to each other seem
to say things (on the phone or the
social media) to everybody
except the ones immediately
surrounding them.

“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 SOUND OF SILENCE
❏The narrator calls them fool,
because silence has an abnormal
unhealthy growth, like cancer.
❏He asks them to hear his words and
to hold his hand.
❏He tries to warn the people in his
dream, he invites them we try to
rebel against the system, but they
just turn their heads and look the
other way.
❏It’s just easier to swim with the tide
than against it.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its
warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the
prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of
silence”
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
❏All those people don’t want to
listen to his warnings, are not
touched by his his words .
❏They are giving all their
attention to the neon God
they created and are
worshipping all what it says
without using a voice.
 THE SOUND OF SILENCE

❏When they are without religion,

people try to find a meaning to life
And the people bowed and prayed
elsewhere, they may look for it in
To the neon god they made
their belongings, without realizing
And the sign flashed out its
they want to find meaning when
warning
there is none.
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the
❏The last phrase is strange and it
prophets
may suggest that only when
Are written on the subway walls
people are not completely
And tenement halls
conditioned, maybe in the poorest
And whispered in the sounds of
environments, there may be able
silence”
to understand the revelation of
the approaching doom
Questions:

1. Describe the vision of the songwriter in the song.

2. Explain the denotative meaning of words in the

song.

3. Is silence more powerful than a sound? Explain.

“Imagine”

By:
John Lennon
 IMAGINE

JOHN LENNON

● He was an English singer,

songwriter, and peace activist who
gained worldwide fame as the
founder, co-lead vocalist and
rhythm guitarist of the Beatles.

● After the Beatles disbanded, he

continued as a solo artist and
become collaborator to his wife,
Yoko Ono.
 IMAGINE

JOHN LENNON

● “Imagine” was released in 1971

during one of the most turbulent
times in our history.
● In 1975, he disengaged from music
business to raise his son, Sean.
● In 1980, he return with Ono
collaboration, “Double Fantasy”
and three weeks after the release of
the album, he was shot by a Beatles
fan, Mark David Chapman.
 IMAGINE

❏ It is written by John Lennon and

performed in 1971 during the Vietnam
War.

❏ According to Wikipedia, the song

Imagine is one of the top 100
most-performed songs of the twentieth
century.

❏ Lennon, imagines an ideal world without

boundaries, religions, possessions, etc
and in which the people will live happily.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today … Aha-ah...
IMAGINE
❏the poet asks the readers and
the audience to Imagine that
there is no heaven and no hell
and it’s easy if you try according
to him.
❏The idea of heaven and hell is in
almost all the major religions in
the world like Christianity, Islam,
Judaism, etc.
❏Thus for Lennon, Heaven and
Hell, or in other words life after
death has no reality or proof.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today … Aha-ah...
IMAGINE
❏In the third line, he asks us to
Imagine that all the people
living for today and above us
are nothing but the only sky.
❏The poet is asking the
people to leave aside what
has been prescribed and
advised in their religions and
beliefs and rather consider
the world as the ultimate
reality and live for today.

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace… You...
IMAGINE
❏In the second stanza, the
poet again asks us to
imagine there’s no countries
and no religion too and thus
nothing to kill or die for.
❏According to the poet, it isn’t
hard to do i.e. there is no big
deal in imagining it.

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace… You...
IMAGINE
❏The countries and the religions
divide the people and also
lead them to fight and kill each
other.
❏The poet thus wants us to
imagine what if these two
dividing forces were not here
on the earth, then no person
would die or kill others.
❏And thus all the people living
life in peace.
 IMAGINE

❏The third stanza is a kind of

chorus. The poet says that the
people may think that he is a
dreamer. However, according to
him, he is not the only one to
You may say I’m a dreamer
think like this.
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
❏There are many others as well
And the world will be as one
and someday we will also join
him and that day the world will
be one. There will be unity
among the people, and peace
and prosperity will prevail.
 IMAGINE

❏In the fourth stanza, the poet

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world… You...
asks us to imagine that there
would be no possessions and
no need for greed or hunger
and thus a brotherhood of
man would exist where all
the people will be sharing all
the world.
 IMAGINE

❏In this stanza, the poet talks

about material possessions.

Imagine no possessions ❏Materialistic desires lead to

I wonder if you can greed and thus capitalism,
No need for greed or hunger which again divides the
A brotherhood of man society into classes i.e. rich
Imagine all the people and poor class.
Sharing all the world… You...
❏This desire is, again a cause
of problems faced by the
people in the world.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world… You...
IMAGINE
❏The poet thus asks us to
think and imagine if we
would give up the desire to
possess the material things,
there will be no fight, no
class, no greed and thus no
problem.
❏Universal brotherhood will
prevail in the world and it will
be shared by all the people
equally.

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will leave as one
IMAGINE
❏The fifth and the final
stanza is again a chorus
repeated by the poet.
❏He says that though he is a
dreamer, he will too join
him someday and thus the
world will be one.
 IMAGINE

Questions:

1. What is the message in the poem?

2. State and defend the writer's argument in the

song.

3. What does the writer want the listeners or

audience to imagine in the song?
Resources:
The Sound of Silence: Analysis
https://wordsmusicandstories.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/
the-sound-of-silence-analysis/comment-page-1/

Poetry Analysis -
https://kellylau-poetryportfolio.weebly.com/poetry-analysi
s.html

Imagine by John Lennon -

https://englishsummary.com/imagine-john-lennon-analysi
s/
THANKS!
Do you have any questions?

CREDITS: This presentation template was

created by Slidesgo, including icons by
Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik

Please keep this slide for attribution