Poetic Elements and Meaning of ‘All of Me’ Song
Introduction
The selected song lyric is ‘All of Me,’ which was performed by John Legend. It is the composer’s fourth album with the theme of love. The song was released in mid-2013 and became the leading song in America in 2014. It also took second place in the United Kingdom while topping in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, among other countries. Inspired by his wife, John composed this song three months to their wedding. Since its release, this song has been the third best-selling in the world, with approximately 12.3 million copies sold so far. Whereas poetry is part of the language and art of poets, this essay inspects the song’s poetic elements as well as meaning to construct human feelings, social reality, as well as lived experiences.
Song’s Literal Meaning
Usually, a song’s literal meaning is what is composed and what can be said as inherent elements. As such, an inherent element is the same as saying a plot, figure, significance, or point of view. It can also be thought of as a theme. Recanati (4) defines the term ‘literal meaning’ as what is said. He argued that the characteristic feature of poetry’s sentence meaning, or linguistic meaning, is conventional and content-independent (4). Therefore, the literal meaning of this song is that if one loves someone, he or she might have to risk everything for them. It is clear, from this song, that the singer is willing to risk everything, including his heart, to love and cherish his newly married wife. While he cannot figure out what is happening in their relationship, the woman appears unpredictable and impulsive. However, even though he feels such, he is willing to do everything within his power, with the hope that all would be well someday.
Song’s Figurative Meaning
When discussing literature and poetry, it is vital to understand the difference between figurative and literal meanings of any work. The above discussion has already presented what is meant by the term ‘literal meaning.’ On its part, the figurative meaning is another word for ‘figure’ or ‘image’ or ‘illustration.’ In other words, it is a meaning that is not literal, one that is masked in the words or phrases used. Often, a figurative meaning is depended on several things, such as culture, past, and other elements. It is the indirect meaning of a poetic work. In the chosen song, the figurative meaning is that the singer claims to love everything regarding his wife. While the woman is very fascinated that the man loves her, the song tells a different story. It reminds women to have their charm and keep their beauties in the eyes of men. It also means that anyone’s imperfections can be erased when genuine feelings of love take precedence. Besides, loving with sincerity as well as whole-heartedness is the essence of any real love.
Poetic Elements used to enhance the Figurative Meaning
The singer has used varied poetic elements to improve the song’s figurative meaning. Some of these elements include assonance, consonance, allusion, rhythm, and metaphor, among several other elements. In the first verse, he says, ‘What would I do without your smart mouth?’ It also says, ‘Drawing me in, and you kicking me out.’ Here, the writer demonstrates sarcasm. Drawing him in and kicking him out could mean kissing and romance. However, the speaker is irritated by his fiancé because she keeps pushing him away. In the second verse, the speaker uses a metaphor to enhance his meaning. In particular, he employs metaphorical visualization to describe his wife when he says that she is his goddess of inspiration. From this verse, it is clear that the speaker cannot stop thinking about her. When he says ‘Cards on the table … showing hearts,’ he uses a metaphor to mean putting one’s entire life at risk without minding the outcome of the action. In other words, the speaker is showing the depth of his love and doing everything possible to make it a reality (Legend).
With rhyme, there are significant near rhymes in this song, which are both fun and surprising. Such words as spinning, kidding, and imperfections demonstrate rhythm. Several perfect rhymes are unusual here. In a slow lyric like this song, language is vital. Listeners are highly entertained and made worth by listening to these rhymes. The other element the writer uses is personification. For instance, when he argues, ‘The world is beating you down’ he is using personification since the world cannot beat someone down, but it just rotates a lot around the planet. He also employs what is called ‘oxymoron.’ For instance, when he says ‘All your perfect imperfections,’ he is using this device because an oxymoron is an art of utilizing two contradicting words simultaneously. As such, while perfect implies having no flows, the use of imperfection is a direct opposite. With assonance, the writer has repeatedly used identical as well as similar vowels, mainly stressed syllables. He has also used consonance because there are several repetitions of two or more consonants in the song (Legend).
The Theme of the Song and its Significance to Listeners
The overall theme of this song is love. As one of the most romantic lyrics ever, this song shows how to love with sincerity and headedness. The speaker demonstrates how he loves his women irrespective of her flaws and imperfections. He says that even when she yells at him, his love for her is steadfast and unshakable. Besides, he says that she sometimes drives him crazy and does things that irritate him, but he still cherishes every aspect of her curves. For the speaker, taking the good with the bad is real love and the most unconditional part of adoring a person. Equally, because of love, the speaker argues that he is in a relationship of roller coaster ride and is not willing to let it go. For instance, despite the chaos he often experiences, he says that there is something that is very magnetizing about his woman – love. While there are numerous benefits, the significance of this poem is that it teaches its listeners how to love. In particular, this song is expected to benefit its listeners, especially those wishing to identify the type of love the speaker describes in this lyric. Whereas each person has his or her interpretation of this song, the listener is expected to appreciate the motivation behind this song. Besides, listeners are equally expected to understand the association between the speaker’s love and his reality.
Conclusion
As presented above, this paper sought to inspect the song’s poetic elements as well as meaning to construct human feelings, social reality, as well as lived experiences. The speaker, as seen, has used several poetic elements and meanings to enhance his message.
Works Cited
Legend, John. ‘All of Me.’ 2020, https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnlegend/allofme.html. Accessed 3 June 2020.
Recanati, François. Literal meaning. Cambridge University Press, 2004.