Pathos in Imagine

Through his peaceful tone and lyricism, John Lennon is able to reach out to the audience in a manner that appeals to their sense of humanity. He appeals to pathos by questioning the morality of society as well as creating an image of society as one rather than conceited individuals. Lennon (as well as The Beatles as a whole) reached out to a very large audience, not simply those of the movement, which allows him to reshape the image of the Hippie Movement as a whole by generalizing the main ideals, such as anti-war and anti-materialistic sentiments. His tone conveys a sense of tranquility, which is intended to make the audience focus more on the lyrics rather than the beat. His lyrics, rather than inciting immediate action and change, encourages us to reflect on a different world where all of our reasons for concern are gone. He effectively encourages us to think about the problems with our society and redesign our image of a utopia on Earth. This appeal to our sense of pathos allows for us to better understand the anti-war sentiment and one of the main engines behind the Hippie movement.