The Prose of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department
For her 11th studio album, the Chairman of the Board delivers a lecture on the art of literary allusion
Where did the idea of the ‘tortured poet’ come from?
When Taylor Swift wrote the Folklore album, she took great inspiration from the Lake District in England (‘The Lakes’), which is where the Romantic Era Lake Poets congregated. One of the foundational texts of Romanticism, The Lyrical Ballads, was written by two Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The aesthetics of Romantic poetry were borne out of nature, deep introspection and the discourse of the sublime.
Crucially, our idea of ‘tortured poet’ stems from this era, where poets died very young, were exiled, self-medicated and often too poor to marry the one they loved. This trope has been carried on through the various artistic movements, but it’s safe to say that Romanticism is a big concept at play on this album since Swift references it repeatedly (“I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life” from ‘I Hate it Here’).
Taylor Swift as a “Tortured Poet”
Swift is much better-off than the tortured poets who died penniless in a garret surrounded by manuscripts that weren’t accepted. However, donning the role of a “tortured poet” is clearly playing up her own reputation in the press. Since the beginning of her career, she has been known for writing lyrics inspired by her heartbreaks. Swift has been linked to other women whose words have been deemed “confessional,” such as Sylvia Plath and Joni Mitchell.
“You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith”
The title track of this album opens with the image of a typewriter and explores the dramatic relationship between two artists. One of these artists fancies themselves a Dylan Thomas figure, while the one writing this song acknowledges that they are nothing of the sort: “You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, we’re modern idiots.” In this line, Taylor completely inverts the concept of the album. On the one hand, she has cast herself as the “Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.” But on the other, she acknowledges that she’s not exactly Patti Smith.
The Chelsea Hotel has been a gathering ground for artists across all mediums, from Jackson Pollock to Sid Vicious. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, best known for his alcoholism and the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night,” lived at the Chelsea Hotel for a short time in 1953 before he died. Along the corridors of time, Punk Poet Patti Smith moved into the Chelsea with Robert Mapplethorpe in 1969. Swift seems to make further allusion to Smith in ‘loml’ in the line “Stitching, ‘We were just kids, babe.’” Just Kids is the memoir that Patti wrote about her time with Robert Mapplethorpe, much of which is set in the Chelsea Hotel. Smith has taken to Instagram to thank Taylor Swift in a post, posting two photos of herself reading a book about Thomas and writing the caption: “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Thank You Taylor”.
Although Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith never exactly met at the Chelsea, both have left a lasting presence in popular culture regarding the links between poetry and popular music, a legacy that has now been extended thanks to Taylor Swift.
Albatross
Knowing Taylor’s interest in the Lake District, it is not far-fetched to think that “Albatross” was inspired by Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” originally published as part of the Lyrical Ballads with fellow Lake Poet, Wordsworth. In “Ancient Mariner,” the albatross becomes the ultimate symbol of burden and regret as a sailor wears the dead bird around his neck as a form of atonement for cursing his crew by killing it in the first place.
Throughout the song, Taylor sings “She’s the albatross / she is here to destroy you,” but by the end of the song, she is transformed into the bird: “Spread my wings like a parachute / I’m the albatross.” By identifying with the symbol of the albatross, Taylor both embraces her freedom, and warns anyone who tries to kill her spirit.
Other literary allusions on this album include The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett in the chorus of the song “I Hate it Here”: “I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind / People need a key to get to, the only one is mine / I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child.” In “Cassandra,” Swift alludes to Cassandra (of Greek mythology), who was cursed by Apollo so that no one would believe her prophecies even if they were true: “So they killed Cassandra first ‘cause she feared the worst.”
Musical Poet by Association
In addition to Swift’s poetic references, she also collaborates with the song writing poets Stevie Nicks and Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine).
The collaboration with Stevie Nicks is in the form of an introductory poem that features on physical releases of The Tortured Poets Department. The poem Nicks contributed is about a woman who is on a path “to the stars,” and a man who was in love with her, but ultimately “lost her.” A few lines of the second stanza mention, “She brings joy / He brings Shakespeare / It’s almost a tragedy,” which shows Nicks also tends to weave literary allusions into her web of work. Nicks’ standing as both songwriter and poet adds an extra layer of credibility to Taylor’s album. If there is going to be a “tortured poets” department of popular musicians, Stevie earned her rank as Full Professor when she wrote “Landslide” back in 1973.
Swift also collaborates with Florence Welch in “Florida!!!.” The song is the most energetic on the album, much deserving of the three exclamation marks in the title. Welch adds a wild energy with her mellifluous voice and supernatural lyrics. Florence posted a lyric video snippet on Instagram, written on the letterhead: “Florence Welch Department of Hurricanes and Haunted Lace Florida.” She also shared her inspiration for her portion of the song on her Instagram story: “When @taylorswift asked me to feature on Florida!!! I immediately thought of one of my favourite short story collections by Lauren Groff. Full of ghosts and swamps and storms”. Welch adds to the litany of literary allusions, as well as lends her status of both songwriter and poet to the album.
VIDEO: Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone “Fortnight”
Florence Welch has been a long-time resident in the witchy, folkloric territory of Stevie Nicks. It’s nice to see Taylor Swift still exploring the area after Evermore and Folklore.
In March 2024, Ancestry revealed that Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson are sixth cousins, three times removed. It’s not necessary prove that Swift has genealogical poetic residue, The Tortured Poets Department’s pointed and yet universal lyrics, as well as her astute literary allusions should provide enough proof in and of itself.
- The Prose of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department - April 23, 2024
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 2022: Artist by Artist - November 12, 2022
- Stevie Nicks Flies Solo Outside of Houston, TX - November 7, 2022
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