Ahead of The Tortured Poets Section was ever a glimmer in Taylor Swift’s eye, the singer peppered her tunes with references to vintage literature.
As early as 2006, Swift bundled a nod to Robert Frost’s poem “The Street Not Taken” in the music “The Outside” from her self-titled debut album. “I attempted to consider the street significantly less traveled by,” she sang. “But nothing at all seems to function the very first number of occasions, am I proper?”
The traces were the initial of many literary references to come, with Swift afterwards folding in allusions to is effective by authors such as Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Potentially most famously, her Fearless solitary “Love Story” borrows from William Shakespeare’s enjoy Romeo and Juliet. In 2010, Swift said that researching the engage in in ninth quality partly encouraged the observe.
“A lot of people who gravitate towards songs are genuinely, seriously form of drawn to poetry for the reason that the phrases all have a rhythm and it will come alongside one another just proper,” she stated in the course of a converse at Scholastic headquarters. “I like poetry, mainly because if you get it correct, if you place the appropriate rhymes at the proper finishes of the sentences, you can practically make text bounce off a website page.”
Keep looking at for a total, alphabetical manual to all of the literary references in Swift’s discography:
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’
Swift’s initially tribute to Lewis Carroll’s beloved children’s book came in 2014 on 1989 by using the reward observe “Wonderland.” In the song, the narrator and her lover drop “down a rabbit hole” and get dropped in a “wonderland” collectively. “Didn’t you serene my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?” she sings at just one stage.
Swift revisited Carroll’s do the job on “Long Tale Short” from 2020’s Evermore with the line, “I fell from the pedestal, appropriate down the rabbit hole.”
‘All’s Very well That Ends Well’
Shakespeare’s comedy gets a fast nod in “All Too Nicely (10 Minute Edition)” from Purple (Taylor’s Variation), which dropped in 2021. Swift commences the fourth verse with the traces, “They say all’s effectively that ends perfectly, but I’m in a new hell / Every time you double-cross my head.”
She earlier referenced the engage in on “Lover” from the 2019 album of the exact same title, singing, “All’s perfectly that finishes properly to end up with you.”
The Bible
“Now That We Really don’t Talk” from 1989 (Taylor’s Version), introduced in 2023, contains an allusion to a Bible tale from the e book of Exodus. “You part the crowd like the Purple Sea, never even get me started off,” Swift sings, referencing Moses foremost the Israelites out of Egypt.
‘Compassion’
In the tune “Ivy” from 2020’s Evermore, Swift borrows a line from Miller Williams’ poem “Compassion,” released in 1997. “I’d satisfy you in which the spirit fulfills the bones,” she sings in the first verse. Williams’ poem, in the meantime, reads, “You do not know what wars are going on down there exactly where the spirit satisfies the bone.”
‘The Good Gatsby’
Swift produced her to start with reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel on “This Is Why We Cannot Have Nice Things” from 2017’s Reputation with the lyric, “Feeling so Gatsby for that entire calendar year.” As former high university learners may possibly remember, titular character Jay Gatsby (a.k.a. Jimmy Gatz) is well-known for throwing lavish functions that hide his shady background.
3 years later on, Swift nodded to the reserve all over again in “Happiness” from Evermore. The lyric, “I hope she’ll be a lovely fool who can take my location following to you” is a participate in on the character Daisy’s remark that she hopes her daughter will be a “beautiful tiny fool,” even though the line, “All you want from me now is the green mild of forgiveness” recollects the book’s well known environmentally friendly light-weight, which symbolized the unattainable nature of Gatsby’s dreams.
‘Humpty Dumpty’
“The Archer” from Lover estimates the basic nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” with the lyrics, “All the king’s horses, all the king’s adult men / Could not put me collectively all over again.”
‘The Iliad’
1989 bonus keep track of “You Are in Love” incorporates an oblique reference to The Iliad in the line, “And you fully grasp now why they lost their minds and fought the wars.” When it is not express, this appears to be to be a nod to the mythological Trojan War, the place the Greeks and the Trojans fought about Paris having Helen from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
“State of Grace” from Crimson incorporates an allusion to Achilles, a hero of the Trojan War, with the lyric, “These are the arms of fate, you are my Achilles heel.” Homer’s Iliad, having said that, would make no mention of Achilles getting a weak spot in his heel.
King Midas
Swift is apparently a thing of a mythology buff due to the fact “Champagne Problems” features a reference to King Midas, who could turn just about anything to gold by touching it. Swift mentions the mythological royal even though describing a character in the tune, singing, “Your Midas contact on the Chevy doorway.”
‘One for the Money’
“Champagne Problems” also includes a nod to the vintage children’s rhyme “One for the Dollars,” which has been close to considering the fact that the 19th century. Swift’s lyrics study, “One for the money, two for the clearly show / I never ever was ready, so I check out you go.”
Peter Pan
On the Folklore track “Cardigan,” Swift references the fictional character produced by J.M. Barrie. At just one issue, she names Peter directly, stating, “Tried to transform the ending / Peter shedding Wendy.” Later on in the keep track of, she discusses “chasin’ shadows in the grocery line,” which appears to be an allusion to the way Peter chases his personal shadow when checking out the Darling children.
The Red Thread of Destiny
“Invisible String” draws inspiration from the plan of the pink thread of fate, a idea from East Asian mythology. The red thread of fate is an invisible wire tied all over the fingers of folks who are destined to meet up with. In the Chinese edition of the tale, Yue Lao, the god of marriage and love, is in charge of binding folks with the crimson thread.
Robert Frost
Swift has not but a few music that include nods to Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” The initially came on “The Outside” from her 2006 debut album when she sang, “I tried using to consider the street a lot less traveled by, but almost nothing appears to perform the 1st several moments, am I appropriate?”
She then quoted the exact same line on “Illicit Affairs” from Folklore, singing, “Take the highway significantly less traveled by, explain to by yourself you can often halt.” The street seems just one a lot more time on “‘Tis the Damn Season” from Evermore in the lyric, “And the highway not taken appears actual superior now.”
‘Romeo and Juliet’
Swift’s most well known literary reference arrived in “Love Story” from 2008’s Fearless, exactly where the narrator is Juliet to her enjoy interest’s Romeo. In contrast to Shakespeare’s tragedy, this version has a joyful ending, with Romeo having permission from Juliet’s dad to marry her. The song finishes with the proposal, but presumably Dad’s approval implies they do not have to bogus their have fatalities to tie the knot.
‘The Scarlet Letter’
Swift has two references to Hawthorne’s 1850 novel in her discography. The initially came in “Love Story” with the lyric, “Cause you had been Romeo, I was a scarlet letter.”
The second arrived in 2014 on the 1989 bonus track “New Romantics,” which contains the line, “We demonstrate off our unique scarlet letters, have confidence in me, mine is better.”
For a minimal large college English course refresher: The Scarlet Letter is about a lady named Hester Prynne who should use a crimson “A” right after she conceives a youngster out of wedlock. (The “A” is for adultery.)
‘Slaughterhouse-Five’
In addition to possessing a tune titled “So It Goes” on Reputation, Swift uses the phrase in equally “Style” and “You Are in Love” from 1989. It’s not crystal clear whether or not she’s deliberately referencing Kurt Vonnegut in any of these tracks, but “so it goes” is an oft-recurring line in the author’s 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-5.
‘Snow White’
Swift references the Brothers Grimm fairy tale in “The Ideal Day” from Fearless. “Don’t know if Snow White’s household is in close proximity to or far away,” she sings. “But I know I had the finest working day with you these days.”
Later in the observe, she nods to Snow White’s companions when she states, “It’s the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs.”
‘A Tale of Two Cities’
The opening line of “Getaway Car” from Reputation is a engage in on the opening line of Dickens’ 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Towns. Swift’s variation reads, “It was the ideal of moments, the worst of crimes,” although the Dickens quote begins, “It was the very best of situations, it was the worst of times.”
William Wordsworth
Yrs just before announcing The Tortured Poets Division, Swift nodded to the Romantic poet in her Folklore reward keep track of “The Lakes.” The music includes a pun on Wordsworth’s name in the lyric, “I’ve appear way too considerably to watch some name-dropping sleaze convey to me what are my text truly worth.”
In the refrain, she sings, “Take me to the Lakes, where all the poets went to die.” Wordsworth, who frequently wrote about England’s Lake District, died at his dwelling in the area in 1850 and was buried at St Oswald’s Church in Grasmere.
