English teacher Elizabeth Scala told CNN she chose Swift because the pop star writes her own music and her lyrics can help illuminate similar techniques in classical poetry.
“This is a course in his songs as literary writing and how a popular, award-winning writer uses the same literary devices, figures and tropes of traditional poetry in his work,” he said. she stated. “It’s not about fame or fame.”
Students will study Swift’s songs alongside the writings of great names in Western literature.
“They will be invited to analyze and contextualize common practices and issues across the centuries,” Scala said.
Scala describes herself as a Swift fan and said her goal is to teach literary traditions through a contemporary lens.
“I want to take what Swift fans can already do on a sophisticated level, tease it a bit with different vocabulary, and then show them how, in fact, Swift draws from richer literary traditions in her writing, à la both topical but also formally in terms of how she uses references, metaphors and clever manipulations of words,” Scala said.
“I will show the pupils that these operations and these interpretative gestures that one makes while reading his songs are suitable for all forms of writing.”
The class will primarily focus on songs from recent Swift albums, but students are free to bring up older songs for discussion, Scala said. With most lyrics posted online and songs available on Apple Music or Spotify, students don’t have to buy music for the class, she said.
The course will also cover topics such as genre, authenticity, fan influence on artists and writers, and how language history and linguistic traditions enrich the reading experience, Scala said.
“I think it’s important to connect the program to the present, but I’m not willing to give up the past. It’s my way of bringing older material back with relevance,” she added.