You Were My Everything Critical Essay

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Overview

You Were My Everything was among the top songs in the American Music Chart in year 2004. On a literature perspective, Aviation song was and is still successful because of the extensive use of literary elements. The most eminent literary elements include point-of-view, theme and cultural-context. Nonetheless, how do they influence the success of the song as a piece of literature? The analysis below gives a clear-cut answer to this question.

Theme

The main theme of the song is lost love. Throughout the poem, the artist makes it explicit regrets losing the person he loved most. In the fourth paragraph, the artist explains the reasons that caused him to lose his love and his desire to have that person back. He treated that person badly ‘I can’t forgive myself for the way I treated you so’ (Aviation 2).

The artist also tries to show how he wishes that he could have the chance to love that person again ‘I really wanna show you I really need to hold you’ (Aviation 5). He finds it difficult to admit that he has lost his love ‘I guess now, we’ll never know’ (Aviation 20). As we see, every line focuses on the theme. The reader/listener cannot help but feel the artist’s intense sadness, love, regret and his cry for forgiveness.

Point of View

The song uses the first person point-of-view. As we see, the word ‘I’ is repeatedly used throughout the song. The first person viewpoint gives the reader an opportunity to get inside the character’s experiences. In every chorus, we see the word ‘I’ in the first six lines, ‘I need you and, I miss you and, I want you and…’ (Aviation 8).

The reader gets to know the artists deepest thoughts about the woman he loves and therefore, the reader feels the intense love like if he/she was the one in love. In essence, the reader feels like the artist is sharing his deepest feelings, feelings that he would have difficulty telling his closest friend. As a result, an association, attachment or intimacy develops between the reader and the artist.

Cultural-context

The song is in the contemporary era where people talk openly about love issues, and where everything, including love is fast-paced. As we see, the artist has no reservation when explaining or expressing his feelings. He tells of the little things he did with the woman he loved ‘Remember when we kissed?’ (Aviation 18) and what they meant to him ‘I thought you’d be there for me’ (Aviation 18) without minding how other people would respond.

In addition, he tells us about how he met that person on the first day and they ‘hit if off’ (Aviation 17) immediately. This shows that they never had time to know each other like in earlier times. It was fast love (love at first sight), the modern way. This makes it easy for any reader to relate with the song.

Conclusion

A successful piece of literature associates itself with the reader and is easy to understand. From the analysis, the use of cultural-context and the point of view makes it easy for the reader to associate him/herself with the song. The theme used is one that any reader can easily understand. This is what makes the song a success.

Works Cited

Aviation. You Were My Everything. Metrolyrics, 2011. Web.

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Reference

IvyPanda. (2018, June 12). You Were My Everything. https://ivypanda.com/essays/you-were-my-everything/

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"You Were My Everything." IvyPanda, 12 June 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/you-were-my-everything/.

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IvyPanda. (2018) 'You Were My Everything'. 12 June.

References

IvyPanda. 2018. "You Were My Everything." June 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/you-were-my-everything/.

1. IvyPanda. "You Were My Everything." June 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/you-were-my-everything/.


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IvyPanda. "You Were My Everything." June 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/you-were-my-everything/.

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