Leonard Cohen: There’s a Crack in Everything
Leonard Cohen embodied a multitude of identities: novelist, poet, lyricist, musician, Jewish mystic, Buddhist monk, Canadian, Montrealer, devoted lover (but never a husband), father, and Jikan Eliezer. Perhaps above all, Cohen was a restless inquisitor, seeking meaning or truth in the world he observed. Did he ever find it?
By examining the many facets of his life, we open doors to interpreting the rich legacy he left behind—from “lullabies for suffering” to the broken Hallelujahs and his poetic “manual for living with defeat.” For Cohen, brokenness often yielded moments of transcendence.
Our journey begins with a discussion of entry points to understand Cohen’s work.
We’ll conclude with a critique of Cohen’s final works and a comparison with other contemporary artists.
Between these bookends, we’ll read, listen, and converse together—guided by the spirit of Cohen’s memorable refrain: “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Learning Outcomes
Articulate Leonard Cohen’s transformation from poet and novelist to internationally acclaimed songwriter and performer, including his role as an outsider and cultural icon across different decades.
Critically examine how Cohen’s works address universal themes, such as suffering, love, bittersweetness, justice, aging, faith, and the search for meaning, and connect these insights to participants' own life experiences.
Connect Cohen’s creative output to major cultural and historical movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, including the Beat Generation, Hippies, the Quiet Revolution, and pluralism and skepticism of universal truths (postmodernism).
Enhance participants’ skills in listening to and reading songs and poems, gaining the ability to identify artistic techniques.
Session 1: Who Was Leonard Cohen
Read: Lebold: Entry Points; Chapters. 1-3. Shumway, Chapters 1, 3 and 21.
Avishai, Bernard. “Leonard Cohen’s Montreal.” The New Yorker, February 25, 2015.
Songs and Poems: “Suzanne; “Prayer for Messiah;” “For Anne;” “All There Is To Know About Adolph Eichmann.”
Interviews:
Questions:
What is your connection to Cohen’s work?
What is the meaning behind each of the four poems?
What’s the difference between lyrics and poetry? Consider the song “Suzanne” when you answer this question.
Cohen’s work explores bittersweetness in mood and content. What is meant by bittersweetness?
Session 2: Myth, Anthem, and Prayer
Read: Lebold: Chapters 4-6. Shumway, Chapters 2 and 4. (optional) Film on Hallelujah (2022).
Songs and Poems: “Anthem;” “Bird on the Wire;” “Hallelujah;” “Sisters of Mercy”(listen to the songs and read the poems).
Questions:
Identify the core meaning in each poem. For each of the poems, what lines strike you as significant?
How does “Anthem” transform the concept of a broken world into a source of hope? Why has the “crack” line become a modern mantra?
Listen to the songs and discuss what thoughts and emotions come to you as compared to reading the poems.
Compare the different endings to Hallelujah. What makes “Hallelujah” function as a sacred hymn and a secular one? Is it a song of faith, doubt, or both?
Interviews:
Session 3: Love, Brokenness, The Search for Light
Read: Lebold: Chapters 7-9. Shumway, Chapters 8-10, 16
Songs and Poems: “So Long, Marianne;” “Famous Blue Raincoat;” “Boogie Street;” “A Thousand Kisses Deep;” “Avalanche;” “Joan of Arc;” “The Stranger Song;” “Dance Me to the End of Love;” “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.”
Questions:
How do faith, longing, and doubt play into Cohen’s work?
How does Cohen blend spiritual striving with sensuality?
Identify the meaning behind each poem and song.
To what extent can love be a site of existential exploration, both painful and redemptive?
Leonard Cohen’s reflections on brokenness and imperfection may have shaped modern attitudes toward imperfection and resilience. How so?
Interviews:
CBC Interview (1980)
Session 4: The Prophet of a Broken World
Read: Lebold: Chapters 10-12. Shumway, Chapters 14 and 18
Songs and Poems: “Everybody Knows;” “The Partisan;” “The Future;” “Democracy;” “Who by Fire.”
Questions:
How does Cohen’s work wrestle with the idea of moral responsibility in the face of suffering inflicted by others or by G_d?[1]
What and who were the principal spiritual and intellectual influences on Cohen’s work?
How does Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” reflect his views on the state of the world and human nature?
What does Cohen mean when he says, “we need to confront our own darkness to find our light,” and how does this relate to societal change and redemption?
Interviews:
Leonard Cohen is inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF)
Leonard Cohen's Theories on Life, Democracy & the Future | MTV Full 1993 Interview
Leonard Cohen Interview - Part 1 of 3. Interview - Stina Dabrowski interviews Leonard Cohen in Paris in 2001.
Session 5: Redemption and Legacy
Read: Lebold: Chapters 13-14; Epilogue. Shumway, Chapters 22-24.
Songs and Poems: “You Want It Darker;” “If It Be Your Will;” “Come Healing;” “Thanks for the Dance.”
Questions:
What does Cohen’s last work leave you feeling?
Is his G-d a companion, a judge, or an absence?
What would be your “crack where the light gets in?”
Interviews:
[1] G-d is written with a – instead of with an “o.” This is one way that Jewish scholars accord reverence to the sacred name. They also say that this reminds us that, as people seek G-d, He transcends any human effort to describe His reality.
Session 6: Cohen and His Contemporaries
Read: “Introduction.” In Boucher, David and Boucher, Lucy. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen: Deaths and Entrances. (Bloombury, 2021).
Songs: “Visions of Johanna;” “Not Dark Yet;” “No Me Quitte Pas;” “Amsterdam.”
Questions:
How does Cohen compare to Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel in terms of style and song content?
If time permits, we’ll also consider Prince, Kris Kristopherson, Willie Nelson, David Bowey, Joni Mitchell, and Judy Collins.
Interviews:
