Taylor Swift's songs have sparked some literary interest lately, and rightly so. In this video, I want to (1) see how some of her lyrics respond to the kind of close reading I practice on this channel and (2) consider how some of the major themes of her poems are located within larger traditions of lyric poetry.

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Introduction: 0:00-1:36
Lyric Poetry: 1:36-5:15
Swift's Lyre - "Teardrops on my Guitar": 5:16-13:38
Are English profs full of crap? 13:38-17:00
Lyric's Preservative Power: 17:00-21:30
Redemptive Memory in "Mine": 21:30-25:39
Elegiac Memory in "Tim McGraw": 25:39-27:09
Commemoration in "Widest Dreams": 27:09-34:28
Swift & Romanticism "The Lakes": 34:28-42:30

Thumbnail from "Anti-Hero (Official Video)" uploaded by Taylor Swift, 21 October 2022,    • Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Official Mu...