Anthologising Torture and Poetry: An Analysis of My Favourite Literary References in The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift

Dear reader, if you’re anything like me, you are a lover of all the literary references in Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). After listening to the sad, beautiful, tragic album obsessively since the minute it came out, like many of my fellow Swifties I had one question: which lines are actually sweeter than fiction…or wait, I meant which lines are from fiction? That’s when I had an epiphany! So many of my favourite lines are actually literary references…I mean you have to agree that the lyrics in Swift’s new album–just–hit different! Anyways, long story short, this is me trying to compile a list of my top five literary references from lyrics across the album. Without making you wait an entire fortnight, here they are…are you ready for it?

• “A rose by any other name is a scandal” from ‘The Albatross’

‘The Albatross,’ a song whose title is already an allusion to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, opens with a reference to one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet. Swift’s line “A rose by any other name is a scandal” directly parallels a Shakespearean line spoken by the character Juliet; “That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet” . The reason I personally find this line so alluring is because I feel as though it adds so much to the metaphor in this song. A definition of the word ‘albatross,’ as used in the song, can refer to a person who causes inescapable problems, and the speaker spends the song deflecting the rumours that say she is going to destroy her relationship. This line causes the rumours about the relationship in the song to be metaphorically connected to the dangerous love between Romeo and Juliet in the play. However, differently from the play, Swift’s parody line “A rose by any other name is a scandal” can suggest that the speaker will differentiate herself from the problems the rumours claims she will cause in her relationship.

• “I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist” from ‘So Long London’

Once I came across this reference, it completely changed the way I viewed this song. Swift’s line “I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist” is alluding to the symbol of the green light in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In the final scene of The Great Gatsby, Nick, the narrator, remarks that Jay Gatsby’s infatuation of the green light at the end of his ex-lover’s dock was a blind hope for an unrealistic future – making the green light symbolise the dismantling of Gatsby’s dreams. When Nick sees the green light for the first time, “[he] glance[s] seaward—and distinguish[es] nothing except a single green light, minute and far away” which links Swift’s line to its symbolism. With ‘So Long London’ being the sequel to Swift’s 2019 song ‘London Boy,’ it becomes clear that the speaker's dreams of a perfect love affair were as unrealistic as Gatsby’s version of perfection. As an additional layer, Swift’s speaker's love is symbolized by London, just as Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is symbolised by the green light, making this connection even stronger.  

• “I hate it here so I will go to / Secret gardens in my mind” from ‘I Hate It Here’

As soon as I heard this song I knew it was written for book lovers, and it quickly became one of my favourite songs on the album. Of course the line “I hate it here so I will go to / Secret gardens in my mind” is a direct reference to the novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Just as Mary Lennox hates living with her uncle when she is first sent to live with him, the speaker in the song and Mary both yearn for an escape from their situation. Both characters find that comfort within their imagination and learn to love the place they are in because of their found method of escapism. While this reference is a little more general than many of the others on this list, I think that this song is the perfect love letter to readers who love the imagined realities they can escape to within the pages of a book, and I just had to include it here because of that reason.  

• “So how much sad did you think I had / Did you think I had in me?” from ‘So Long London’

Yes, I know, two references from the same song, but this one is just too good to leave out! Swift’s line “So how much sad did you think I had / Did you think I had in me?” connects to Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a line spoken by Lady Macbeth: “Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” . This line represents Lady Macbeth’s descent into madness directly before she begins to see the murdered king's blood on her hands, which will not go away. The speaker in this song is calling out her past lover who she is blaming for the murder of her emotions. Like in Macbeth, the stain is unable to be cleaned, making the damage permanent and irreversible. 

• “The professor said to write what you know” from ‘The Manuscript’

‘The Manuscript’ itself is already a very bookish song title, so of course, there is a brilliant literary reference hidden within its lyrics. Swift’s line “The professor said to write what you know” is a reference to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women where a professor advises Jo March to write what she knows. This reference therefore puts the speaker of the song in conversation with the bold Jo March, making the speaker come across as more strong willed, and therefore more intent on moving past her failed relationship. With this being one of my favourite songs in TTPD, I was so excited to find a connection to one of my favourite literary heroines!

Don’t blame me, but this is only the surface of the labyrinth of literary references in TTPD. I wish you could see the alchemy I faced having to choose only five references to share with you. With that being said, you’re on your own kid to find your own favourite literary references in TTPD!