15 Books Referenced In Tortured Poets Department

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TRENDING NEWS ENTERTAINME NT FOOD & DRINK PETS SHOPPING HEAL THY NOW HOME BEST READS ON PARADE BOOK PICKS SEE MORE15 Books You Must Read if You’re Obsessed With Taylor Swi’s New Album Here Are 15 Books Taylor Swift Celebrates in ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ MICHAEL GILTZ • MAY 2, 2024 Here are 15 books you must read if you’re obsessed with Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department. She drops major references to them in TTPD, along with a ton of other pop cultural allusions. I’m the bookologist at Parade and I’ve identied the authors and books Swift builds upon and clearly cares about. You should care about them too. Ok, we could write a thesis on all the pop cultural markers in Taylor Swift’s new album , one reason she's the biggest music star in the world...and earns every penny. “Down Bad,” to pick just one song, references Star Trek, alien abduc tion stories and with the phrase “indecent exposure” ties it into a Stuart Woods thriller or an old movie about a photographer taking advantage of the young, pretty models posing for him and so on. A line by line breakdown of all her lyrics reveal even more links to poets and playwrights and The Wizard of Oz and so much more. We know! So this roundup focuses on the artists Taylor gives a major shout out to on the album . The biggies. We’ll make a passing reference to the specic lyrics or music video or just the song title that links them to Taylor and spend most of our time explaining what makes those artists special. Even if you don’t listen to her music a lot (who are you?), it’s impressive to realize the range of art she makes use of in her work. Related: 100 Best Taylor Swi ft Quotes Imagine you bump into Taylor Swift at a party. Here are the books you need to read to prepare for your TSE, your Taylor Swift Encounter. Taylor already knows her music is great, so when you casually bump into each other you’ll want to chat knowledgeably about the people she geeks out over, too. With our help, you’ll soon be besties. 15 Books Taylor Swi Easter Eggs in ‘e Tortured Poets Dep artment' e Bell Jar by Syliva Plath Syliva Plath is ALL OVER Swift’s new album. The title of the rst track “Fortnight” is a Britishism for “two weeks.” And the music video is a dead ringer for Plath's life, from her stay in a psychiatric ward and getting electroshock therapy to calling her husband from a phone booth when he was too busy with a mistress to answer. (In the video, Swift is on top of the booth and her boyfriend is calling her, presumably to break it o.) Plath became famous after she died by suicide, thanks to the autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. It documents and immortalizes Plath’s experiences by turning them into art. Sound familiar? Trust us, Swift has denitely read it. The Bell Jar by Syliva Plath ($17.99; Harper Perennial Modern Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Collected Poems of Dylan o mas by Dylan omas Just Kids by Pai Smith On the title track, Swift mocks her boyfriend’s pretensions with the lines, “And you’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith/This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, we’re two idiots.” Now jump on YouTube and you can hear Dylan Thomas read “Do not go gentle into that good night” (his #1 hit!). Swift absolutely assumes you’ve already listened to Patti Smith’s music, like her classic album Horses. Why not go deeper? Dive into the Welsh poet Thomas’s honeyed, rich body of work, as well as Smith’s Just Kids, an award-winning memoir about being a young struggling artist living for a time at the Chelsea Hotel. Swift also nods to this brilliant book in the songs “loml” and “Peter” when saying the phrase “just kids.” Bonus points: actor/writer Ethan Hawke appears in the “Fortnight” video as a scientist. Track down his lm Chelsea Walls (you have to buy it on DVD) and you’ll see ve stories set at the Chelsea Hotel, including one inspired by Dylan Thomas, who fell into a coma while staying in room 205 and died a few days later. In other words, Smith lived there, Thomas basically died there and you need to pay homage to it when visiting New York City. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas by Dylan Thomas ($16.95; New Directions) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Just Kids by Patti Smith ($18.99; Ecco) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Fairy T ales by Hans Christian Andersen No points for remembering The Little Mermaid is one of Taylor Swift’s favorite lms. So yes, the song title “But Daddy I Love Him” is probably a nod to that lm and Ariel's plea to her father. (And to a similar line in The Notebook , as others pointed out.) But have you read the fairy stories by Hans Christian Andersen? Lately? Most of the classic fairy tales we know took shape over many years before people like the Grimm brothers wrote them down. But Andersen created classics like “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “The Little Mermaid” purely out of his imagination. They’re remarkable and rich and far more complex than you might expect. Just like Swift’s songs. Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen ($21; Penguin Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee Virginia Woolf is one of the towering gures of literature in the 20th century. No doubt Taylor Swift admires her and gives a shout out in the song “Who’s Afraid Of Little Ole Me?” That’s a double reference, since you immediatel y think of Virginia Woolf and you think of the Tony winning play by Edward Albee. For Woolf, you could dive into her gender-bending masterpiece Orlando or the stream of consciousness delight To The Lighthouse. But we’re starting you o with Mrs. Dalloway because it takes the “ordinary ” doings of an “ordinary” woman and reveals how fascinating her inner life truly is when one pays attention. Swift would nod in agreement at that. And do read the hilarious, scabrous dissection of a poisonous relationship in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, one of the funnies t and bleakest plays ever. Or if you prefer, the lm version starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is widely available to rent online. It’s genius too. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf ($10.82; W.W. Norton and Company) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee ($17; Berkley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn The nal track on the original edition of TTPD is titled “Clara Bow.” She was a silent lm star, maybe the silent lm star and Swift’s song about the vagaries of fame makes tting use of Bow’s legacy. The actor personied the Roaring Twenties thanks to her iconic work in the lm It from 1927 (that’s why she was nicknamed “the It Girl”) and Mantrap and others, including Wings, the rst lm to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Think Marilyn Monroe but with a happier ending: Bow walked away from fame to be a rancher in Nevada, enjoying more than 30 years out of the spotlight before her death in 1965. This biography does her justice. Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn ($24.95; Cooper Square Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Complete Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Romantic (and romantic!) poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously sunk into an opium haze, stumbled awake to write down part of the poem “Kubla Khan” he’d just dreamt...and was interrupted by "a person on business from Porlock." The rest of the poem he'd envisioned was lost forever. But an opium-inuenced poem? Now that’s rock n roll! Swift gives a shout out to Coleridge with her song title “The Albatross,” a reference to his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the albatross as a symbol of bad luck. (Especially when you kill it.) His work is varied and fascinating and you’ll hear hints to them everywhere, like Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Who? Ask your parents). And surely Swift would love the Gothic tale of the long poem “Christabel. ” The Complete Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge ($22; Penguin Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle On “So High School,” Swift sings “The brink of a wrinkle in time,” a play on the classic novel by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s a combination of science ction and fantasy, with children for protagonists. Publishers couldn’t decide if it was for kids or adults but when someone nally took a chance it proved an enduring hit. The hero is a precocious girl who sometimes loses her temper but helps save the world, a godmother of sorts to Lyra in His Dark Materials and Katniss in The Hunger Games, among many others. A female hero in this type of story was unusual at the time. In a speech L’Engle said, “I’m a female. Why would I give all the best ideas to a male?” Yeah, Swift would smile her agreement to that thought. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L ’Engle ($8.99; Square Fish) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burne In “I Hate It Here,” Swift writes about unhappiness, saying “I will go to secret gardens in my mind.” In the classic kids book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, young Mary Lenox clearly hates her new home and lets everyone know it. You can’t blame her, since Mary was ignored by her parents, spoiled by servants and when her folks die is dumped at the gloomy doorstep of an unknown relative in England. Unlike other wholesome heroes, Mary is obstinate and rather rude at rst. But just as Anne of Green Gables transforms everyone around her, a secret garden that needs love and care transforms Mary, who does the same for others, like the ailing and similarly spoiled child Colin. Children are supposed to be seen and not heard (or even not seen) according to some. But Swift and Burnett will have none of that; it’s okay to be unhappy, especially when you’ve got reason. And both hold out the possibility of personal growth. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett ($9.99; HarperCollins) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Iliad by Homer; translated by Emily Wilson e Odyssey by Homer; translated by Emily Wilson The song “Cassandra” references the famous prophet, forever doomed to accurately foretell the future but be ignored by everyone around her. So frustrating. Cassandra pops up in numerous classic texts, including The Iliad (about the fall of Troy) and The Odyssey (about the warrior Odysseus and his journey home after the war). Believe us, you’ll realize you’ve seen a million references to these classic epic poems once you’ve read them. And surely Swift would approve of you reading the new acclaimed translations by Emily Wilson, the rst woman to ever translate them into English. The Iliad by Homer; translated by Emily Wilson ($19.99; W.W. Norton and Company) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org The Odyssey by Homer; translated by Emily Wilson ($18.95; W.W. Norton and Company) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Related: When Does Taylor Swi ft Return to the Eras Tour? Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie The song “Peter” is bursting with references to the classic play turned novel Peter and Wendy , now best known as simply Peter Pan. His name is a byword for men who behave like overgrown boys, never quite ready to commit to a relationship or adulthood in any way. They’re charming, fun… and thoroughly undependable. The play by Barrie was an immediate sensation, convincing audiences to burst into applause if they believed in fairies and thus save the life of Tinkerbell. The book is fun for kids and a heartbreaker for adults by capturing the bittersweet passage of time. All children grow up (except one) and it’s inevitable that parents expect this and know it’s coming and yet still feel a tinge of regret when it happens to their children. The original version does contain a racial slur about Black people–used, oddly, as a name for an Indian tribe in Neverland. Also, its depictions of Native peoples while not wholly negative–Captain Hook is the real baddie–a re certainly stereotypical. You can pretend the Indians in Neverland simply reect how a little British boy imagines them to be, but it's still a blot on what is otherwise an enduring delight. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie ($12; Penguin Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford Okay, Taylor Swift's song “The Bolter” is a biggie. The real life woman nicknamed “The Bolter” was Lady Idina Sackville, notorious for having multiple husband s (though we should point out said husbands didn’t become notorious for cheating on her). Sackville married a younger man (among others), dressed well and kept society clutching its pearls from the 1910s through the 1940s. She was also cousin to Vita Sackville-West, the lover of Virginia Woolf, of “who’s afraid of...” fame. The marvelous novelist Nancy Mitford created a character named Linda Radlett inspired by her and also dubbed The Bolter. Linda appears in three novels, including Mitford’s best, titled The Pursuit of Love. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford ($17; Vintage) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org e Bible King James Version from Oxford World’s Classics Taylor Swift was raised a Christian but references all types of beliefs in her lyrics over the years. Certainly, biblical imagery is all over TTPD, just as it is all over popular culture. “Cassandra ” mentions a “Christian chorus line,” “Guilty As Sin” wonders “What if I roll the stone away?/ They’re going to crucify me anyway,” in “The Prophecy” she says “I got cursed like Eve got bitten,” and in “The Smalles t Man Who Ever Lived” she sings “I would’ve died for your sins.” We could list many more. So if you want to understand the context for all those references it helps to read the Bible. The King James Version is considered the most beautif ully written so that’s the one we link to here. You’ll nd a lot of poetry, not to mention accounts of romance and war and revenge and peace and the end of the world. Plus, this Oxford paperback includes apocrypha–books and stories part of early Christian tradition–the sort of stu an artist like Swift probably relishes reading. The Bible King James Version with Apocrypha ($18.95; Oxford World’s Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Additional report ing and Taylor Swift expertise by Kelsey Pelzer TV’s “Franklin” Was Inspired By A Kid's Book? Historian Stacy Schi Tells All Read MoreCourtesy of Various Publishers Courtesy of Taylor Swift/Republic Records Content continues below Content continues below Content continues below Courtesy of Harp er Perennial Modern Classics Content continues below Courtesy of New Directions and Ecco Content continues below Courtesy of Penguin Classics Content continues below Courtesy of W.W. Norton and Company and Berkley Content continues below Courtesy of Cooper Square Press Content continues below Courtesy of Penguin Classics Content continues below Courtesy of Square Fish Content continues below Courtesy of Harp erCollins Content continues below Courtesy of W.W. Norton and Company Content continues below Courtesy of Penguin Classics Content continues below Courtesy of Vintage Content continues below Courtesy of Oxford World’s Classics Sponsored Stories Here Are 23+ Hotte st Gifts Of 2024 23 Insanely Cool Gadgets You'll Regret Not Getting Before They Sell Out Trending Gadgets | SponsoredThis New Weed Startup is Changing the Game - Here's Why! hellomood.co | Sponsored Dermatologist Says Do Not Buy Regular Bedsheets, Here's Why After testing dozens of bedsheets, these are #1. thegrannyblog.com | SponsoredFresh Sourdough Starter Where else can you nd FRESH sourdough starter - not dried? Start your sourdough baking journey today. King Arthur Baking Company | Sponsored This Coin Helps Keep Your Drinking Water Clean This Wine Advent Calendar Is the Perfect Early Holiday Present — and It’s Under $80 Pluto - Indica Hybrid - 24.98% THCa - Free Shipping HelloMood | SponsoredToenail Fu ngus? Try This Trick Tonight! 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15 Books Referenced In Tortured Poets Department

📄 15 Books Referenced In Tortured Poets Department

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