Earlier than The Tortured Poets Division was ever a glimmer in Taylor Swift’s eye, the singer peppered her music with references to traditional literature.
As early as 2006, Swift included a nod to Robert Frost’s poem “The Street Not Taken” within the music “The Outdoors” from her self-titled debut album. “I attempted to take the highway much less traveled by,” she sang. “However nothing appears to work the primary few occasions, am I proper?”
The strains have been the primary of many literary references to return, with Swift later folding in allusions to works by authors together with Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Maybe most famously, her Fearless single “Love Story” borrows from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. In 2010, Swift stated that learning the play in ninth grade partially impressed the monitor.
“Lots of people who gravitate towards music are actually, actually form of drawn to poetry as a result of the phrases all have a rhythm and it comes collectively good,” she stated throughout a chat at Scholastic headquarters. “I really like poetry, as a result of should you get it proper, should you put the fitting rhymes on the proper ends of the sentences, you may nearly make phrases bounce off a web page.”
Preserve studying for an entire, alphabetical information to all the literary references in Swift’s discography:
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’
Swift’s first tribute to Lewis Carroll’s beloved kids’s guide got here in 2014 on 1989 by way of the bonus monitor “Wonderland.” Within the music, the narrator and her lover fall “down a rabbit gap” and get misplaced in a “wonderland” collectively. “Didn’t you calm my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?” she sings at one level.
Swift revisited Carroll’s work on “Lengthy Story Brief” from 2020’s Evermore with the road, “I fell from the pedestal, proper down the rabbit gap.”
‘All’s Effectively That Ends Effectively’
Shakespeare’s comedy will get a fast nod in “All Too Effectively (10 Minute Model)” from Purple (Taylor’s Model), which dropped in 2021. Swift begins the fourth verse with the strains, “They are saying all’s effectively that ends effectively, however I’m in a brand new hell / Each time you double-cross my thoughts.”
She beforehand referenced the play on “Lover” from the 2019 album of the identical title, singing, “All’s effectively that ends effectively to finish up with you.”
The Bible
“Now That We Don’t Speak” from 1989 (Taylor’s Model), launched in 2023, consists of an allusion to a Bible story from the guide of Exodus. “You half the group just like the Purple Sea, don’t even get me began,” Swift sings, referencing Moses main the Israelites out of Egypt.
Swift drew on her Sunday college information once more on “Responsible as Sin?” from TTPD, referencing Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection with the strains, “What if I roll the stone away? / They’re gonna crucify me anyway / What if the best way you maintain me is definitely what’s holy?”
‘Compassion’
Within the music “Ivy” from 2020’s Evermore, Swift borrows a line from Miller Williams’ poem “Compassion,” revealed in 1997. “I’d meet you the place the spirit meets the bones,” she sings within the first verse. Williams’ poem, in the meantime, reads, “You have no idea what wars are occurring down there the place the spirit meets the bone.”
Dylan Thomas
Swift name-drops the Welsh poet in TTPD’s title monitor, singing, “I laughed in your face and stated, ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith.’”
‘The Nice Gatsby’
Swift made her first reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel on “This Is Why We Can’t Have Good Issues” from 2017’s Popularity with the lyric, “Feeling so Gatsby for that complete 12 months.” As former highschool college students might recall, titular character Jay Gatsby (a.okay.a. Jimmy Gatz) is legendary for throwing lavish events that conceal his shady background.
Three years later, Swift nodded to the guide once more in “Happiness” from Evermore. The lyric, “I hope she’ll be a ravishing idiot who takes my spot subsequent to you” is a play on the character Daisy’s comment that she hopes her daughter shall be a “lovely little idiot,” whereas the road, “All you need from me now could be the inexperienced gentle of forgiveness” recollects the guide’s well-known inexperienced gentle, which symbolized the unattainable nature of Gatsby’s goals.
‘Humpty Dumpty’
“The Archer” from Lover quotes the traditional nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” with the lyrics, “All of the king’s horses, all of the king’s males / Couldn’t put me collectively once more.”
‘The Iliad’
1989 bonus monitor “You Are in Love” consists of an indirect reference to The Iliad within the line, “And also you perceive now why they misplaced their minds and fought the wars.” Whereas it’s not express, this appears to be a nod to the mythological Trojan Battle, the place the Greeks and the Trojans fought over Paris taking Helen from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
“State of Grace” from Purple consists of an allusion to Achilles, a hero of the Trojan Battle, with the lyric, “These are the fingers of destiny, you’re my Achilles heel.” Homer’s Iliad, nonetheless, makes no point out of Achilles having a weak point in his heel.
King Midas
Swift is seemingly one thing of a mythology buff as a result of “Champagne Issues” includes a reference to King Midas, who may flip something to gold by touching it. Swift mentions the mythological royal whereas describing a personality within the music, singing, “Your Midas contact on the Chevy door.”
‘One for the Cash’
“Champagne Issues” additionally features a nod to the traditional kids’s rhyme “One for the Cash,” which has been round because the nineteenth century. Swift’s lyrics learn, “One for the cash, two for the present / I by no means was prepared, so I watch you go.”
Patti Smith
Smith additionally seems in “TTPD” alongside Thomas. Whereas she’s identified primarily as a singer-songwriter, Smith can be a prolific creator, having written the memoirs Simply Children and M Practice in addition to a number of books of poetry.
Peter Pan
On the Folklore monitor “Cardigan,” Swift references the fictional character created by J.M. Barrie. At one level, she names Peter instantly, saying, “Tried to alter the ending / Peter shedding Wendy.” Later within the monitor, she discusses “chasin’ shadows within the grocery line,” which appears to be an allusion to the best way Peter chases his personal shadow whereas visiting the Darling kids.
The Purple Thread of Destiny
“Invisible String” from Folklore attracts inspiration from the concept of the pink thread of destiny, an idea from East Asian mythology. The pink thread of destiny is an invisible wire tied across the fingers of people who find themselves destined to fulfill. Within the Chinese language model of the story, Yue Lao, the god of marriage and love, is in control of binding folks with the pink thread.
Robert Frost
Swift has not however three songs that embody nods to Frost’s “The Street Not Taken.” The primary got here on “The Outdoors” from her 2006 debut album when she sang, “I attempted to take the highway much less traveled by, however nothing appears to work the primary few occasions, am I proper?”
She then quoted the identical line on “Illicit Affairs” from Folklore, singing, “Take the highway much less traveled by, inform your self you may all the time cease.” The highway seems yet one more time on “‘Tis the Rattling Season” from Evermore within the lyric, “And the highway not taken appears to be like actual good now.”
Swift probably referenced Frost once more on TTPD’s lead single, “Fortnight,” nodding to his poem “Mending Wall” within the refrain with the lyric, “Now you’re in my yard, become good neighbors.” Frost’s poem famously consists of the road, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
‘The Scarlet Letter’
Swift has two references to Hawthorne’s 1850 novel in her discography. The primary got here in “Love Story” with the lyric, “Trigger you have been Romeo, I used to be a scarlet letter.”
The second got here in 2014 on the 1989 bonus monitor “New Romantics,” which incorporates the road, “We showcase our completely different scarlet letters, belief me, mine is best.”
For a little bit highschool English class refresher: The Scarlet Letter is a couple of girl named Hester Prynne who should put on a pink “A” after she conceives a toddler out of wedlock. (The “A” is for adultery.)
Octavio Jones/TAS23/Getty Pictures for for TAS Rights Administration If musical soulmates exist, Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner could be sturdy contenders for the title. The pair have collaborated on a number of albums collectively, together with Swift’s hotly anticipated eleventh document, The Tortured Poets Division. Dessner, a founding member of the rock band The Nationwide, has lent his […]
‘Slaughterhouse-5’
Along with having a music titled “So It Goes” on Popularity, Swift makes use of the phrase in each “Model” and “You Are in Love” from 1989. It’s not clear whether or not she’s deliberately referencing Kurt Vonnegut in any of those tracks, however “so it goes” is an oft-repeated line within the creator’s 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-5.
‘Snow White’
Swift references the Brothers Grimm fairy story in “The Finest Day” from Fearless. “Don’t know if Snow White’s home is close to or distant,” she sings. “However I do know I had one of the best day with you immediately.”
Later within the monitor, she nods to Snow White’s companions when she says, “It’s the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs.”
‘A Story of Two Cities’
The opening line of “Getaway Automotive” from Popularity is a play on the opening line of Dickens’ 1859 novel, A Story of Two Cities. Swift’s model reads, “It was one of the best of occasions, the worst of crimes,” whereas the Dickens quote begins, “It was one of the best of occasions, it was the worst of occasions.”
‘Valley of the Dolls’
This one is a bit on the market, however on TTPD’s “Florida!!!,” Swift and Florence Welch sing, “Inform me I’m despicable, say it’s unforgivable / At the very least the dolls are lovely / F–okay me up, Florida.” It’s not clear whether or not “dolls” refers to people, however in Jacqueline Susann’s 1996 novel, Valley of the Dolls, the characters confer with drugs as “dolls.” Since this complete music is about Florida being a “hell of a drug,” is it actually an excessive amount of of a stretch to assume “dolls” means “drugs” right here too?
William Shakespeare
Swift’s most well-known literary reference got here in “Love Story” from 2008’s Fearless, the place the narrator is Juliet to her love curiosity’s Romeo. In contrast to Shakespeare’s tragedy, this model has a cheerful ending, with Romeo getting permission from Juliet’s dad to marry her. The music ends with the proposal, however presumably Dad’s approval means they don’t must faux their very own deaths to tie the knot.
William Wordsworth
Years earlier than asserting The Tortured Poets Division, Swift nodded to the Romantic poet in her Folklore bonus monitor “The Lakes.” The music features a pun on Wordsworth’s title within the lyric, “I’ve come too far to look at some name-dropping sleaze inform me what are my phrases price.”
Within the refrain, she sings, “Take me to the Lakes, the place all of the poets went to die.” Wordsworth, who continuously wrote about England’s Lake District, died at his residence within the space in 1850 and was buried at St Oswald’s Church in Grasmere.
