"Imagine" - John Lennon
Analyzing "Imagine" by John Lennon
By: Boey, Sarah and Bethany
Stanza One
"Imagine there's no heaven/ It's easy if you try/ No hell below us/ Above us only sky"
- Symbolism: heaven and hell
- heaven represents the good and hell represents the bad
- if there were no heaven and hell, nothing to look forward to in the afterlife, would one still do good deeds?
- Contrast between heaven and hell
Stanza Two
"Imagine there's no countries/ It isn't hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ No religion too"
- Metaphor: A world without countries, means a world without boundaries.
- The countries would represent the boundaries that are made within them, however without countries then the idea of different races will no longer be in effect and thus creating one entity.
- Paradox: Nothing to kill or die for
- No enemies, no barriers
- "Nothing to die for" meaning they don't need to gain power or pride because in the end, we're all equal and then the world will be as one
Stanza Three
"You may say/ I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one/ I hope some day you'll join us/ And the world will live as one"
- Paradox:
- World cannot actually live as one because we are all different
- Meaning that everyone should just unite and be kind to each other
Stanza Four
"Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can/ No need for greed or hunger/ A brotherhood of man/ Imagine all the people, sharing all the world"
- Sarcasm/rhetorical question: "I wonder if you can"
- challenging others if they can put aside their greed and selfishness
- Metaphor: "A brotherhood of man"
- brotherhood- a close relationship between people
- the idea of everyone being together living in harmony
- Paradox: "Sharing all the word"
- the world cannot be shared, (eg. Third world countries are not equal to the rest)
- the idea of being one and sharing the world as one
Stanza Five
"You may say/ That I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one/ I hope some day you'll join us/ And the world will be as one"
- Same as stanza three
- Conclusion:
- His last sentence gives the audience something to think about and leaves a hopeful feeling
- The repetition of the third stanza emphasizes the message of the song
- Concludes that there will be equality and peace in the world once everyone puts aside their political, religious, and social beliefs
Overall Devices
- Repetition: Imagine
- Emphasizes the word and makes people actually think about the peaceful world we could have
- When telling one to "imagine", they can realize the problems in the world instead of directly telling them; song becomes more meaningful
- Tone: Gentle, calm
Lennon's Criticism
1) "Imagine there's no countries"
- Criticizing the politics and government around the world
- Labeling ourselves by nationality creates barriers between us
- Criticizing the different religions and beliefs
- People are separated by different religious groups
3) "I hope some day you'll join us/ And the world will live as one"
- Criticizing the society
- He does not think that society is able to be selfless and caring towards one another to create a peaceful place to live in
4) "Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can"
- Criticizing society
- People are too greedy, and he does not think that we are capable of sharing
Why Criticism was made?
- A lot of war and violence was occurring
- ex. World War 2; countries in the Allies group opposing the Axis powers
- ex. Cold War and Vietnam War
- There were a lot of barriers at that time separating people from each other
- ex. religion, race, beliefs, politics
Importance Of The Song
- It is such an inspirational song that should impact people positively
- Broadens one's view and understandings of the world we live in
- Had us thinking about the conflicts happening right now; ex. war
- Made us think about the things we could do to help others have a better life