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Word cloud for Speak Now! Learn more at www.taylorswiftscholarcom

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"In Teardrops on my Guitar, Taylor Swift was deeply distressed by the bodily dysfunction brought upon by desire. Young Swift couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t walk, and the result was teardrops on her guitar. In Speak Now"

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Word cloud for Back to December

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"However, because of the cyclical nature of time, there is not only hope but absolute certainty that another December will come. Swift cannot reset their relationship to how it was before, but she can hope for a second chance: “If we loved again, I swear I’d love you right.” Swift cannot return to the past, but she can ask and hope for future birthdays, future summers in the car, and even future Decembers together."

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Word cloud for Today was a Fairy Tale

What are your favorite lyrics from this song?

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"Sometimes when an author asserts something too vehemently, the astute reader must ask if she doth protest too much. Swift is committed to convincing both herself and the listener that today was perfect, but she provides shockingly few details about the date and instead just repeats the phrase “today was a fairytale’ over and over again. A close inspection of the details that she does provide reveals that it may not have actually been a perfect date."

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Word cloud for Sparks Fly

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"In Teardrops on my Guitar, Taylor Swift was deeply distressed by the bodily dysfunction brought upon by desire. Young Swift couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t walk, and the result was teardrops on her guitar. In Speak Now, Swift has come to enjoy the very same sensation. She cannot run and her vision is distorted, but instead of teardrops she produces a fantasy about kissing in the rain. Indeed, Swift leans into the discomfort and even asks for more: “give me something that’ll haunt me when you’re not around.”

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Word cloud for Mine

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"Over the past three albums, Taylor Swift has made significant contributions to the philosophy of memory and Mine is her most sophisticated take thus far. First, Swift comments on the recursive nature of memory. The moment at the center of this song is so pivotal that it is remembered both as a significant memory on its own as well as the subject of two other memories. The initial memory has become a site of discourse upon which further memories can be constructed."

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Word cloud for Bye Bye Baby

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Nothingness taking the place of something significant is a major theme of Bye Bye Baby. While she is driving away, Swift reflects three times that the relationship is no longer tangible. “All the pages [of their relationship] are just slipping through my hands,” “There’s just so much that I can’t touch” and “I try to grab at the fray.” Swift’s relationship, previously real and tangible, is now nothing.

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Throughout Don’t You, there is a gap between words and the truth. In the verses, this gap occurs between what Taylor Swift intends and what she does. She repeatedly declares how she had planned to behave or feel, while in fact doing the opposite.

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Word cloud for That's When

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Word cloud for Don't You

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That's When[ever]: Blurring Time after a Reconciliation

"Throughout Swift’s oeuvre, we have seen a preoccupation with time. That’s When bookends a couple’s reconciliation by having each partner ask the other to reflect upon their time apart. Before, Swift asks, “When can I come back?” After, Urban asks “When you were gone, did you ever think of me?” They each respond with the same words in the chorus, transforming their time apart into a shared experience. Furthermore, their time apart is not represented using discrete moments in linear time, but as a series of oppositions blurred together (rain and sun, laughter and tears.) Rather than ruminating on each moment apart, this couple summarizes and condenses them and “leave[s] those all in our past.”"

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Word Cloud for We Were Happy

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