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Simon, Paul 1941–: Critical Essay by Stefan Kanfer

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About 2 pages (599 words)
Paul Simon Summary

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Instead of following the mainstream of the major popular lyricists, Paul Simon seems to have skipped Freshman Composition (Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein) and majored in 20th Century Poetry, principally T. S. Eliot, A. E. Housman and E. A. Robinson. In The Dangling Conversation he aims for no less than a Prufrock effect:

            And the dangling conversation
            And the superficial sighs
            Are the borders of our lives.
            Yes, we speak of things that matter,
            With words that must be said,
            "Can analysis be worth while?"
            "Is the theater really dead?"

And in A Most Peculiar Man, he restates Robinson in a song about a man who lives "within a house, within a room, within himself," who committed suicide, "and all the people said, 'What a shame that he's dead, but wasn't he a most peculiar man?'"

This is a free excerpt of 129 words. There are 599 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.

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Simon, Paul 1941–: Critical Essay by Stefan Kanfer from Literature Criticism Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

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