American and English universities offer courses on her songwriting, while her diehard fans parse every lyric of every song but there is no denying that Taylor Swift knows her literature, sprinkling references to plays, poems and books throughout her lyrics. It has even been reported that she is a distant relative of the poet Emily Dickinson. Swift will be right at home when she lands in Dublin, a city with no shortage of literary links and home of her namesake Jonathan — there is no evidence of them being related but following the recent revelation that she is a Derry girl, who knows? Here, we look at some of the literary allusions in her songs.
The Outside In an early indication of her lyrical talent, Swift alluded to the well-known Robert Frost poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ in 'The Outside', which features on her self-titled debut album. Written when she was only 12 years old, it conveys the sense of feeling isolated by her schoolmates: “I tried to take the road less travelled by/But nothing seems to work the first few times, am I right?" The poem is also referenced in the tracks 'Illicit Affairs' (“Take the road less travelled by /Tell yourself you can always stop”) and '’Tis the Damn Season' (“And the road not taken looks real good now”) on her acoustically-driven albums Folklore and Evermore . The Lakes In this Folklore bonus track, Swift writes about seeking solace from the unrelenting pressures of fame in the Lake District, a location that provided inspir.
