NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift has released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
But just how poetic is it? Is it even possible to close read lyrics like poems, divorced from their source material?
The Associated Press spoke to four experts to assess how Swift’s latest album stacks up to poetry.
Allison Adair, a professor who teaches poetry and other literary forms at Boston College, says yes.
“My personal opinion is that if someone writes poems and considers themself a poet, then they’re a poet,” she says. “And Swift has demonstrated that she takes it pretty seriously. She’s mentioned (Pablo) Neruda in her work before, she has an allusion to (William) Wordsworth, she cites Emily Dickinson as one of her influences.”
She also said her students told her Swift’s B-sides — not her radio singles — tend to be her most poetic, which is true of poets, too. “Their most well-known poems are the ones that people lock into the most, that are the clearest, and in a way, don’t always have the mystery of poetry.”
Pregnant Rooney Mara dresses her baby bump in head
Funding shortfall halts Taranaki Cathedral project
With new trilateral partnership, Philippines eyes more foreign investment — Radio Free Asia
A Danish hippie oasis has fought drug sales for years. Now, locals want to tear up the whole street
South Africa man convicted in deaths of 2 Alaska Native women faces revocation of U.S. citizenship
Posts distort former Virginia governor’s comments on third trimester abortions
Two bodies found in search for Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies
NZ Foreign Minister urges Israel not to begin Rafah ground offensive
American Express profits jump 34%, helped by jump in new customers, higher spending
What we know about Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis
Pregnant Rooney Mara dresses her baby bump in head
Earthquake now eclipse, Yankees play ball amid natural phenomena