PUB 4

Alicia Keys - If I Ain't Got You 

Jourdae Benfante 

Professor Brady 

5-16-22

Pub 4 

For centuries people all around the world have used poems to express how they feel through literature. Love is a very popular theme which can be perceived through any song and poem. The song “If I Ain't Got You” by Alicia Keys compares to the two poems “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet and “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Each poem distinctly shows how music can compare to poetry in many ways. 

Every piece of writing, wether it is lyrics or sonnets has a specific energy and feeling when you read it. “If I Ain't Got You” sets a tone of longing and admiration. As do the other works, the main theme is love. Alicia Keys sings about how love is a better benefit then all the other materialistic things everyone desires. In various songs and poems, like this one, a refrain is used which is a line or multiple lines often repeat. Next, the tone that takes place in “To My Dear and Loving Husband” is tender and devoted. In this poem Bradstreet often uses rhyme saying “we” and “thee” along with “man” and “can” amongst many other lines. Lastly, in the sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” the tone is more passionate and loyal. The speaker proclaims how much she loves her significant other even after they pass. Along with the poem above, Barrett uses rhyme in her works as well. 

The song “If I Ain't Got You” and the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” compare in various ways. In the song Alicia Keys says “Some people want diamond rings, Some just want everything, But everything means nothing, If I ain't got you, yeah.” (15-17, Alicia Keys). She is saying people want jewelry and materialistic things. Meanwhile, she is the opposite she just wants someone to love and care for. In the poem it says “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,Or all the riches that the East doth hold.” (lines 5-6, Bradstreet). The speaker explains that the love she has for him is bigger than mines of gold. The speaker goes on to say that love is bigger than all the valuables in the East. These two works compare in ways they both mention love with material items. Each writer is bellowing about how pure and special love can be. They both similarly reference that feeling of love with the right person is greater than any jewel, money, or luxury items. 

Additionally, the sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” compares to Neo-Soul song as well. In the song it says “Some people want it all, But I don't want nothing at all, If it ain't you, baby, If I ain't got you, baby.” (26-29, Alicia Keys). This lyric is expressing how people want everything expensive they can lay their hands on but she doesn't want anything of that matter if it means not having the person she loves. If she doesn't have they she doesn't know what she would do. In the poem it reads “I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.” (12-14,Barrett Browning). The speaker is saying they love them with every smile and tear they shed throughout their existence. If it was their time and the speaker dies they would still love even harder in the afterlife. These two lines compare because they are both essentially being very devoted and loyal to their significant other. Each narrator would sacrifice anything if that meant loving their soulmate. 

In summary, poems and songs have extremely similar concepts when set side by side to one another. Comparing literary devices such as rhymes and refrains. In each song and poem a significant tone, theme, and mood took place surrounding love, praise, admiration and loyalty.