John Lennon's Song "Imagine" and

¶ … John Lennon's song "Imagine" and Classic Romantic poetry What do we think of when we hear the words 'classic, Romantic poetry'? We think of poems like "Ode to a Skylark" or "Ode on a Grecian Urn." These 19th century poems are personal, reflective meditations about the world in the poet's own unique voice. Lyric poetry, rather than epic poetry, was the most important style and form for the Romantics. Lyric poems are speculations in the voice of a first-person speaker.

In "Ode to a Skylark" Percy Shelley imagines that a skylark is like a "cloud of fire" or a "high-born maiden" to express his feelings about the bird, and by extension the natural world. The poem is emotional, and does not try to be logical, rather it expresses both the feelings and thoughts of the writer. Romantic lyric poems were often flights of fancy (no pun intended) but gave profound weight and significance to these imaginative speculations. John Lennon's song "Imagine" is also a flight of fancy.

It is a personal meditation that expresses the singer's profound but personal feelings about the world. "Imagine there is no heaven," Lennon sings. He does not make a logical argument for world peace, but uses simple phrases and images to encourage the listener to live for today, rather than to engage in warfare about the afterlife.

When John Lennon sings about his vision of a better world, just like Keats imagines a better past world by talking about an ancient urn, he directly addresses the listener like an equal, like Keats talks to the people painted on the urn. "You may say I'm a dreamer." Lennon sings to the listener like an equal, and does not sing as if he is making a universal proclamation about the world, as he might in an epic poem or an essay.

But his words are not just about love, like a pop song. Lennon is making an argument, an emotional argument like a poet. His language is simple and direct. It is hard to see this same directness in Romantic poetry, because the language of the 19th century is so different from our own.

But even with a 21st century ear, it is possible to see this directness and simplicity in Keats, such as when Keats writes: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, / that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." John Lennon simply states and asserts that in the perfect world there will be: "Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too." Because Lennon's imaginings are stated in such a simple way, it is easy to ignore how profound some of his statements are, and how radical.

Imagine a world without Christianity, Judaism, Islam -- or even America or Iran. No religion and no nations, none of the kinds of things we think are worth fighting for and building a future for, just radical happiness. Shelley's ode was radical in its own way, because it celebrated the natural world just as other poets might have.