What does I Am a Rock byPaul Simon poem mean?

Question

A winter's day in a deep and dark December;
I am alone.
Gazing from my window to the streets below.
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock, I am an island.
I've build walls, a fortress deep and mighty,
that none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock, I am an island.
Don't talk of love; I've heard the word before;
it's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock, I am an island.
I have my books, and my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armour,
hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock, I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries

Does anything stand out from it? I can't tell what the extended metaphor is directly all help would be helpfull thanks

Answer 1

There's some peace in isolation since contact with society "disturb the slumber of feelings that have died." I think he glofies this isolation, hiding in a room, reading, is likened to safety and peace of a foetus in womb.
Precisely:

"I Am A Rock" is principally about isolation and loneliness. It concerns a person (presumably male, but probably only because Simon is the writer and main performer of the song) who, for a not-completely-clear reason, is angry at the world. In defiance, he has shut himself in his room and refuses to leave, feeling that his "books and [his] poetry" (along with the walls that have made him a "fortress deep and mighty") will protect him from any further anguish that he might find by further human contact. The speaker believes that his withdrawal from the world creates an impermeable barrier between him and pain, and that this isolation is the "solution" to this "problem." Can this be true? Simon gives his own answer in these words:

The loneliest people in the world are those that cannot share their loneliness, through fear, pride or anger. And the ache builds walls, fear populates their dreams and pride is then the jailer of the soul.
For Simon, the isolation will force the speaker to accept that isolation (through pride) if he does not want to admit the miserable consequences of rejecting human comfort. Thus the isolation will only deepen, and never produce happiness.

At the end of each verse, the words "I am a rock; I am an island" are sung to two short melodic tonal rises, almost as a refrain. They sound much like a shout, and the space accorded after the end of this phrase allows them to ring along with the backing of the guitar as the song continues, letting them sink into the listener's mind and giving them a sense of significance. One feels the speaker trying hard to believe in what he is saying by the repetition of these eight words. The listener is left to judge whether this claim is valid or merely a disguise for a perhaps more prominent sadness. This defiant assertion, and the motivations behind it, stand as a second major theme of the song.

Answer 2

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RE:
What does I Am a Rock byPaul Simon poem mean?
A winter's day in a deep and dark December;
I am alone.
Gazing from my window to the streets below.
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock, I am an island.
I've build walls, a fortress deep and mighty,
that none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship,...

Answer 3

Like A Bridge Over Trouble Water

Answer 4

The extended metaphor would be the persona in the poem calling himself a rock and an island. What stands out from it is the forceful statement about the persona's decision to be alone. He doesn't want to have feelings. He wants to be isolated. People without emotions are often described as hard hearted and cold. These are two aspects of a rock. A rock doesn't produce any heat. When you hug someone or you are close to someone you feel their body heat.
Here is someone who has loved and lost. He has felt the pain - "If I never loved I never would have cried." "And an island never cries" implying that when his "love connection" with other people (have no need of friendship) or one certain person (don't talk of love) was severed he cried. So now he is isolating himself to escape. His "islandness" is produced by a knowledge that he can escape in books or perhaps by writing or reading poetry. It reminds me of the song "no man is an island."
An interesting idea is that a group of days can be "deep and dark". The deep and dark produces the idea that the persona in the poem has some fierce anger touched with sadness - "I am alone." He intimates he doesn't want to talk with anyone identifying with the silent snow.

Answer 5

I think the rock embodies all the qualities he wishes he had right at this moment: Strength, invincibility, unfeeling, left untouched, no needs. The theme is about the thin line between quality time alone and hiding from the world. "I am a rock" is stated so forcefully and proudly it contrasts with the obvious...who would want to be a rock? lifeless, abandoned, cold, looked upon with indifference (unless you're a geologist). Being a rock is his shelter right now...and by needing shelter..he can't be a rock, no matter how he wishes.

Answer 6

To me it means that this guy has been lonely for too long, that after trying one too many times to find a friend or something more he finally gives up. He's trying to convince himself that he doesn't need anybody anymore, but there's also a sense of longing in the song. It's as if he's bearing his soul to the world in hope of somebody out there seeing it and accepting him for who he is.

Answer 7

Yeah, it's one of his teen angst sulks. Doesn't have any friends, so tries to convince himself he doesn't need any.

And I'm sure he didn't have any friends or chicks until Art Garfunkel showed up and, in the age of band names like "Strawberry Alarm Clock" made them famous.

Doesn't have a girlfriend, so tries to convince himself he doesn't want one.

What a loser! Hey, if his partner hadn't had an unusual name, you'd have never heard of the guy. And THEN he blows HIM off! What a loser!

Answer 8

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Bridge Over Troubled Water The Sound Of Silence

Answer 9

Reminiscent of Alcatraz.

Answer 10

This is a song. I think it about being wary of the world and reaction...you know a sad song, song.