海角大神

Taylor Swift almost eclipsed the eclipse.听

During the moon鈥檚 astronomical photobomb of the sun on April 8, the songwriter posted an update to Instagram. Her video reel featured a typewriter hammering out the words, 鈥淐rowd goes wild at her fingertips. Half moonshine, full eclipse.鈥� The first tease from Ms. Swift鈥檚 new album, 鈥淭he Tortured Poets Department,鈥� wasn鈥檛 a snippet of music. It was a lyric.

The April 19 release has been shrouded in its own form of blackout. No advance singles. Zero interviews. The result? The album is as mysterious as the identity of the boy who inspired Ms. Swift鈥檚 2008 song 鈥淟ove Story.鈥� But Ms. Swift鈥檚 11th LP does appear to follow a poetic theme. The album鈥檚 tagline is 鈥淎ll鈥檚 fair in love and poetry.鈥� It鈥檚 being released during National Poetry Month.

Ms. Swift occupies a position in popular culture that makes Beatlemania seem like a passing fad. Her every move is scrutinized.

Consequently, her album is raising the question of whether lyrics qualify as poetry. 鈥淭he Tortured Poets Department鈥� is heating up a debate that鈥檚 been simmering since Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016.

鈥淭here are people out there who would argue that a pop star can鈥檛 be a poet,鈥� says , who teaches the 鈥淟iterature (Taylor鈥檚 Version)鈥� course at Ghent University in Belgium. 鈥淪he鈥檚 deliberately pushing back against that and also asking us to examine our own attitudes. What is poetry? What can poetry be? Can a woman be a chairman of a tortured poets department?鈥澛�

Stijn Van Kerkhove/Courtesy of Elly McCausland

Elly McCausland, an assistant professor of English literature at Ghent University, teaches a course called 鈥淟iterature (Taylor鈥檚 Version).鈥�

Before Ms. Swift was a songwriter, she was a poet. In fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest for her composition 鈥淢onster in My Closet.鈥� Nowadays, she鈥檚 writing about herself as the 鈥渕onster on the hill鈥� in the hit single 鈥淎nti-Hero.鈥� That song features couplets that showcase her wordplay: 鈥淢idnights become my afternoons / When my depression works the graveyard shift / All the people I鈥檝e ghosted stand there in the room.鈥澛�

But is it poetry?

Historically, poems were often performed aloud with musical accompaniment. The etymology of 鈥渓yric poetry鈥� is the Greek word lyrikos, which means 鈥渟inging to the lyre.鈥澛�

鈥淕radually, they鈥檝e drifted apart. And now I think with artists like Taylor Swift, we see them coming back together,鈥� says Dr. McCausland, who teaches students how the songwriter fits into a genealogy of literature dating back to the 10th century.

By contrast, Publishers Weekly poetry reviews editor says although lyrics can be poetic and poems can be musical, they are different mediums.听

鈥淥n the page, as a poet, without the music, you鈥檙e putting a different kind of pressure on the language to convey musicality, to convey depth, and to lean into mystery,鈥� says Ms. Popa, a Swiftie whose latest book is titled 鈥淲ound Is the Origin of Wonder.鈥� 聽鈥淸T.S.] Eliot said genuine poetry communicates before it is understood. I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 true, necessarily, for song lyrics.鈥�

She adds that debates over whether lyrics qualify as poetry 鈥渞eveal the frivolities of the human ego 鈥� and our impulse to create hierarchies in all things.鈥�

Maciek Tomiczek /Courtesy of Maya C. Popa

Maya C. Popa is the poetry reviews editor for Publishers Weekly, teaches poetry at New York University, and edits the Poetry Today newsletter. Her second book of poetry, 鈥淲ound Is the Origin of Wonder,鈥� was published by W. W. Norton & Company.

Ms. Swift鈥檚 connections to poetry predate her latest album. She has cited Emily Dickinson 鈥� who is her sixth cousin, three times removed 鈥� as an influence. The liner notes for 鈥淩ed鈥� name-check Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda. In 2017, the pop star published two poems in a mock-up magazine bundled with her 鈥淩eputation鈥� album. But it was the 2020 album, 鈥淔olklore,鈥� on which Ms. Swift appeared to consciously court comparison to classic bards. Its artwork features a quill-like font and photos of the singer wandering through woods in cottagecore outfits. The solitary writer communing with nature. Not a single paparazzo in sight.听

鈥淭ake me to the Lakes, where all the poets went to die,鈥� she sings on the album closer 鈥渢he lakes.鈥� Lord Byron and his fellow Romantics were rock stars of the 19th century. By contrast, female geniuses faced social censure. Emily Dickinson was deemed a 鈥渨eird spinster,鈥� says Ms. Popa. In her song, Ms. Swift asks, 鈥淭ell me what are my Wordsworth.鈥� It raises the question: If the author of 鈥淏ecause I could not stop for Death / He kindly stopped for me鈥� were alive today, would she be worth $1 billion?

鈥淸Swift鈥檚] really interested in thinking about, 鈥榃hy is what I鈥檓 doing different to what Wordsworth [was] doing? And how is it the same? And what is the tension between those things?鈥欌�� says , author of the upcoming book, 鈥淒ear Reader: Taylor Swift and the Idea of English Literature.鈥澛�

Dr. Doyle cites the 10-minute version of 鈥淎ll Too Well鈥� as an example of Ms. Swift鈥檚 literary wordsmithery. The song chronicles a brief, clandestine relationship. 鈥淵ou kept me like a secret / But I kept you like an oath,鈥� Ms. Swift sings.

鈥淭he ways in which she鈥檚 explaining why it was great and why it shouldn鈥檛 have ended, and why it鈥檚 such a tragedy that the guy ended it, are also kind of ways in which she鈥檚 revealing that maybe it was never great at all,鈥� says Dr. Doyle, who teaches a course on Taylor Swift and Literature at Queen Mary University of London.

Courtesy of Clio Doyle

Clio Doyle teaches a course on Taylor Swift and English literature at Queen Mary University of London. She is the author of the first book of literary criticism on Taylor Swift, 鈥淒ear Reader: Taylor Swift and the Idea of English Literature.鈥�

In her songs, Ms. Swift has checked into the heartbreak hotel so many times that she really should sign up for the rewards program. So it鈥檚 not entirely surprising that her social media posts are signed, 鈥淐hairman of the Tortured Poets Department.鈥� But some of the new album鈥檚 song titles 鈥� 鈥淏ut Daddy I Love Him鈥� and 鈥淚 Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)鈥� 鈥� suggest that Ms. Swift isn鈥檛 taking herself too seriously.听

鈥淪he exemplifies that side of poetry 鈥� the lyricism, but also the approachability 鈥� which is where I would say that poetry is going in general,鈥� says poet , a Best of the Net nominee and an editor for On the Left Bank, a journal of socialist art and poetry.

Poetry鈥檚 new stars are so-called Instapoets, explains Ms. Lewis, who once spent 20 hours creating a light-up sign to take to Ms. Swift鈥檚 鈥�1989鈥� tour. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr, and Substack offer an alternative to 鈥済atekeep-y鈥� institutions. The Instapoetry genre tends to be bite-size, with subjects ranging from social justice issues to diaristic reflections on relationships. Much like Ms. Swift鈥檚 lyrics.听

鈥淭here are poems for every day and every moment of our lives because poets make the world more sensible to us, through attention and reflection,鈥� said Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, president and executive director of the in a quote provided via email. 鈥淚鈥檓 jazzed to hear what Swift makes of poetry鈥檚 calling in her album. ... We hope she brings millions of readers across the globe to poetry.鈥�

At Newton Free Library in Massachusetts, a 鈥淭ortured Poets Department鈥� display features books such as 鈥淧ostcolonial Love Poem鈥� by Natalie Diaz and 鈥淏lushing鈥� by Paul B. Janeczko. Nationwide, numerous libraries have scheduled listening parties for the new album that will also feature .听

鈥淚鈥檓 very pleased that people gravitate to her lyrics,鈥� says Ms. Popa, whose gateway to poetry was listening to Rufus Wainwright鈥檚 literary songs. 鈥淚 hope it inspires them to write their own lyrics, to write their own poems, and then to go in search of poets who have dedicated themselves to poetry. I think that鈥檚 the best possible scenario.鈥�