Sep 3, 20233 min read

Romantic lyricism in Taylor Swift songs

Have you ever wondered what makes Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift or one of the most famous pop culture icons of our generation? Do you know there are universities like Ghent University in Belgium, University of Texas at Austin, New York University, Stanford offering Tay Tay’s courses particularly to literature and psychology students?

So what makes her particularly appealing? Swifties would reply it is everything. You are not wrong but to pinpoint one parameter to discuss in this essay, I would say it’s her lyricism. The powerful imagery Taylor weaves into magical realism woven with literary allusions and easter eggs and intertextuality across her albums. Be it any occasion, you want heartbreak, happiness, party, revenge, angst, you name it, and Taylor Swift has probably made songs for all scenarios you can possibly imagine, so the relatability factor is one of her high points.

Romanticism was a 18th century movement very much sensitive to the environment and nature; they mourned the loss of purity in the city and critiqued the polluted landscape of an overcrowded city owing to the industrial revolution, which robbed the city of its green, natural scenery. The enduring appeal of Romantic poetry and the themes they explored four centuries ago continues to inspire and influence contemporary culture, making their work especially relevant in the midst of modern-day challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic among others.

It is interesting to note how these themes of nature and immortality have beentranslated into popular culture, particularly in the music of Taylor Swift. In her 2020 albums

"Folklore" and "Evermore,” Swift explores themes of isolation, introspection, and the beauty of the natural world, drawing on the same Romantic sensibility that animated the poetry of

Wordsworth and Coleridge.

"Mad Woman" from the Folkore album acts as a homage to all the women in literature who have been condemned mad for their courage and rage to challenge patriarchy. “Now I breathe flames each time I talk” this very well translates to what Bertha from Jane Eyre infamously called "the madwoman in the attic” underwent. She found her liberation in flaming her captive house and delimbing the masculinity of her husband. “And women like hunting witches too” lines like these remind us women need to come together, as female solidarity to fight the conditioning posed by patriarchy “Fuck the patriarchy” sings Swift in her All Too Well single.

In the track, “The Lakes,” depicts the lyrical persona—most likely Swift herself—who seeks refuge amongst the Windermere peaks, “a perfect place to cry” as she sings, and imaginatively travels to the sublime scenery of the Lake District. She makes a direct reference to Romantic poets: “Take me to the Lakes, where all the poets went to die” and “Tell me what are my words worth,” a pun referring to Wordsworth.

In "Cardigan," Taylor Swift imagines herself as the titular cardigan, a symbol of comfort

and familiarity. She sings about the memories associated with the cardigan, using vivid imagery to transport the listener to a specific time and place, thus celebrating the power of imagination and the possibility of finding renewal and solace in unexpected places, much like the Romantic poets celebrated the transformative power of nature. In this way, Swift's music offers a contemporary perspective against the backdrop of pandemic on the same themes that preoccupied the Romantic poets, highlighting the enduring relevance and power of their ideas in our own time and the importance of imagination as we confront the fragility of our own lives and the importance of finding meaning and purpose in the face of mortality.