The main mood of the song "Imagine" by John Lennon is peaceful and tranquil. The song evokes these emotions through it's diction, music and imagery. First, Lennon begins each of the three verses with the word "imagine" which makes the audience picture what he has to say about his vision of the world. Having the audience imagine instead of "assume" or "picture", is what gives the song more of a positive mood and outlook. The music of the song is very simple starting off with only piano and eventually adding drums and strings. The simplicity and its slow melody are what give the song a relaxing and peaceful emotion that appeals to the audience. Lennon ends each verse with a simple image that he hopes can happen in the future. These three images are, "Living for today", "Living life in peace", and "Sharing all the world". He wants the audience to imagine these things and share his view on World Peace instead of all the violence and war that had consumed the world. They are the main ideas of the song and they also support the views and beliefs of the Hippies in the 1960's.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Pathos of "Imagine"
The main mood of the song "Imagine" by John Lennon is peaceful and tranquil. The song evokes these emotions through it's diction, music and imagery. First, Lennon begins each of the three verses with the word "imagine" which makes the audience picture what he has to say about his vision of the world. Having the audience imagine instead of "assume" or "picture", is what gives the song more of a positive mood and outlook. The music of the song is very simple starting off with only piano and eventually adding drums and strings. The simplicity and its slow melody are what give the song a relaxing and peaceful emotion that appeals to the audience. Lennon ends each verse with a simple image that he hopes can happen in the future. These three images are, "Living for today", "Living life in peace", and "Sharing all the world". He wants the audience to imagine these things and share his view on World Peace instead of all the violence and war that had consumed the world. They are the main ideas of the song and they also support the views and beliefs of the Hippies in the 1960's.
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I like the description of the song you gave, but I would also add that it is hopefull too. Lennon seems like he is aware that during his life, the world may not change but he is optimistic that it could in the future. Also, this reminds me of the different versions of "Blowing in the Wind' where the beat of the song changes the mood.
ReplyDelete-Kara Gans
I liked your analysis but I think its there is more reason to why John Lennon uses "Imagine." Throughout the lyrics, he is almost telling the audience what to do which gives them the feeling that they are being spoken directly to, which connects them emotionally to the song and lyrics. He also addresses the audience directly when he says, "I hope someday you'll join us." Making the song mostly about "you" and "me" keeps it very intimate and emotional.
ReplyDelete-Aparna Jayaram
I really like your analysis of this song! I think you touched on the most important parts that connected it to the Hippie Movement, peace, sharing, the tone of the music, etc. Another way to describe the Hippie Movement (and this song) might be carefree or existentialist because I envision hippies as basically just trying to live life peacefully without interference from the government or anyone. I think that's what Lennon is trying to get at with "Imagine there's no country." Saying something things like this could have incited more emotion from the younger generation because they would have reached an age where they understood the horrors of the world, and "imagining" a world without any conflicts would have been very appealing to them (which would in turn cause them to jump on the bandwagon for this trend)
ReplyDeleteI really like how you broke down the song; you described in a way that people who haven't heard the song before could have gotten a pretty good idea of it. I think in Lennon's song, he's really trying to connect to his audience by using words like "you" and "me" (direct address), which helps him to establish a sort of relationship with his audience, with the common interest of peace.
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