What does the sound of silence mean?

The theme song "The Sound of Silence" of the American film "The Graduate in 1967" is a famous work of folk duo paul simon and garfinkel in 1960s.

What this song wants to express is:

The melody of The Sound of Silence is slow and deep, and the lyrics are full of an illusory artistic conception. Listening carefully, it seems to be telling a kind of youthful and helpless catharsis. At present, I seem to see an ignorant girl walking alone in a narrow and cold alley paved with pebbles. The noisy crowd gradually disappeared behind her, and there was endless night ahead ... The song was too deep if it belonged to folk songs, but it was too delicate if it oscillated with strong music. Musically, it created a neutral class style, which should be an important reason for its success.

This song itself is a wonderful poem with a rigorous structure. It's really difficult to do everything in translation, so I have to leave out the phonological part and try to keep the form and meaning (content and structure) of the original poem in the process of text conversion, and then reread it when my translation skills are improved. Based on the meaning of this song, this paper discusses it paragraph by paragraph and explores its deep meaning.

This song * * * is divided into five sections, which are linked together in one go. In the first paragraph, the speaker came to his old friend in the dark and poured out his heart as an old friend. It can be seen that he has always been lonely, and it is not the first time to be alone or to meditate in the dark. This time, what I want to tell my dark friends is an illusion that haunts my mind. Vision is translated into illusion because it often appears in the narrator's dreams, which is so unreal but so real.

The second paragraph is about the phantom reality. In the dream, the narrator is always uneasy and walks alone on the cobblestone street. Judging from the words "under the halo of a street lamp" and "I turned my collar over to the cold dam", it must be a wet and cold night. On such a lonely and cold night, he was awakened by the sudden neon lights and experienced the real "silence". "Light" originally had positive meanings such as civilization, hope and enlightenment. Here, paul simon reversed this image.

The third paragraph enters the climax of the phantom. Naked means naked, naked eyes, naked eyes are light without a lampshade, which is very strong because of direct light. He saw thousands of people in such strong light. These people are talking, but the content of the conversation is empty and meaningless, so they are talking without saying; ; On the other hand, the person who receives the word is listening in one ear and out the other, so he is absent-minded, so he is listening but not listening. He can skillfully put these ordinary and simple words together to achieve artistic effects. He is really a master of folk songs. In addition to empty talk and absent-mindedness, some people sing insincerely and without feelings when writing songs. Writing songs is one thing, singing is another. People's voices can't be shared with their own songs. Even so, no one dares to face up to this problem and disturb this silence.

So the narrator is anxious and warns them angrily that "silence" is terrible, because silence will spread like cancer until everyone is swallowed up. He asked everyone to listen to him carefully so that he could help them. However, no one paid attention to him. His words are like silent rain dripping at the bottom of a silent well, which can't arouse a ripple.

In this way, everyone is still the same, worshipping and praying for the neon god they created. The neon gods here are interrelated with the neon lights in the second paragraph, and the meaning of the symbols is vividly displayed. It was not until this section of the five-line subway wall and the six-line Tanglou hall that the real meaning finally appeared. Subway walls are usually the homes of homeless people, and serviced apartments are better than slums at best. In contrast, neon lights form a strong contrast, which represents capitalist civilization and its decadent material enjoyment. In the second paragraph, paul simon used a metaphor to turn the positive meaning represented by light upside down, making it the source of chaos, because neon lights sting people and make them lose sight of the direction, and because people covet material comforts and ignore things around them. Therefore, neon lights are a symbol of money worship. Just as the narrator tried in vain to set things right, a warning message flashed in the neon sign, which read: "The prophet's words were written on the subway wall and in the lobby of the apartment." Prophets are not people who can predict the future mentioned in religion, but homeless people and poor people. They often write their complaints and dissatisfaction on subway walls and apartment halls, but these voices are drowned out in this materialistic society.

Lyrics:

Hello, dark, my old friend,

I came to talk to you again,

Because an illusion is quietly spreading,

Left seeds while I was sleeping,

The vision implanted in my mind

Still exists

In the sound of silence.

In an uneasy dream, I walked alone.

Narrow streets paved with pebbles,

Under the halo of street lamps,

I turned up my collar against the cold and humidity.

When my eyes were stabbed by a flash of light

neon lamp

Cut through the night sky

Touched the silent voice.

In the naked light, I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more.

People don't talk,

People don't listen,

People's songs are never shared by sound.

Nobody, honey.

The sound of breaking the silence.

"Fool," I said, "you don't know.

Silence grows like cancer.

Listen to me, I may teach you,

Grab my arm so that I can reach you. "

But my words are like silent raindrops,

Harmony and echo

In a quiet well

People bow and pray.

To the neon lights they created.

The sign flashed a warning,

In the words of its formation.

The sign says, the word of the prophet

It's all written on the subway wall

And cheap apartment halls.

Whisper in the silent voice.

Darkness, old friend, I'm coming

I want to talk to you again.

Suddenly an illusion crept in.

Sow while I am asleep.

Those visions that keep growing in my mind.

Still trapped in the lonely voice

In endless dreams

I'm walking alone

A narrow cobblestone road.

Walking under the halo of street lamps

I feel a little cold and wet.

So I turned up my collar.

Neon lights that sting my eyes.

Through the night

Touch lonely notes

In the light without shelter.

I saw thousands of people.

Maybe more.

People are silently telling.

People listened quietly.

They wrote one song after another.

But no one sings.

No one dares.

When you sleep alone, disturb the bright dream.

I said, you fools.

Don't you know that lonely cancer cells are spreading?

Remember what I taught you.

Hold my outstretched arm tightly.

Unfortunately, my words fall like raindrops silently.

Reverberating in the silent deep well

Watching people bow their heads and pray to the sacred neon lights.

Neon billboards flashed sarcastically.

Issue such a warning:

"The sage's prophecy is on the wall below the tunnel.

It is written in the house of the poor. "

Still whispering in the silence of prayer