Arts & Entertainment

Folklore By Taylor Swift: Song Analysis

Annabelle Lyons, Reporter

November 18, 2024

Taylor Swift’s song, “The Lakes,” from her album Folklore, alludes to William Wordsworth, whose poetry is mostly about nature, and the poetic significance of the Lake District. In this song, she expresses a desire to be brought to the Lakes as an escape, which also serves as the song’s theme. She even employs Wordsworth-style vivid natural imagery to convey metaphors, creating a connection between herself and the poets. Furthermore, she uses imagery to make us feel as though we are escaping, writing lyrics such as, “Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die,” and “I don’t belong/ and my beloved/ neither do you.”

Another song from the Folklore album is “Hoax.”The message in this song is a person’s revelation that the individual they have been in love with doesn’t truly love them back in the same way or ever wanted to love them. Taylor’s lyrics in this song beautifully capture the sense of sadness and unyielding despair that comes with being in this situation. Swift writes, “My only one/ My smoking gun/ My eclipsed sun/ This has broken me down,” as well as, “My twisted knife/ My sleepless night/ My win-less fight/ This has frozen my ground.” These lyrics perfectly describe these emotions that are difficult to express.

Track five of Swift’s album Folklore, “My Tears Ricochet,” is particularly significant to the album. Track five has consistently been the song on all 11 of Taylor Swift’s albums where she is most emotionally vulnerable. Swift’s “Cold As You” from her debut album and “All Too Well” from her album “Red” are two examples of “track fives.” This song explores the complicated dynamics of a deeply felt but troubled relationship. It does so from the ironic viewpoint of after death. This is ironic because usually we can only see the shape and meaning of a story after it ends, but here, even literal death doesn’t bring closure. Some of the lyrics that express this theme are, “We gather stones/ never knowing what they’ll mean/ Some to throw/ some to make a diamond ring/ You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you/ but what a ghostly scene/ You wear the same jewels that I gave you/ as you bury me.” These lyrics only begin the song, so as you get deeper into the song, the explanations get deeper and more powerful. “And I can go anywhere I want/ anywhere I want/ just not home/ And you can aim for my heart/ go for blood/ but you would still miss me in your bones/ And I still talk to you/ (when I’m screaming at the sky.)/ And when you can’t sleep at night/ (you hear my stolen lullabies.)” When listening to the song the dynamics change significantly from beginning to end, showing, in a way, how the emotions of a troubled relationship are felt. In the beginning, it’s soft and quiet but in the lyrics you can feel the desperation. As the song progresses the instrumentals get louder, signifying how a person gets louder when you can feel something/someone you love so much is getting more and more distant from you.

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Sources:

https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-my-tears-ricochet-lyrics

https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-the-lakes-lyrics

https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-hoax-lyrics

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About the Contributor

Annabelle Lyons

Annabelle Lyons, a junior at John Adams, excited to start her journey in finding her voice within the many topics she will be writing about this school year. Although this is Annabelle's first year with The Tower, she loves spending her time writing various different things, from songs, to short stories, and essays about her favorite artist, Taylor Swift, and the complex storylines in her music. Annabelle was inspired to start writing at a young age. She was in school for Preschool and Kindergarten but then her mom noticed how she was struggling within the traditional school setting, and elected to pull her and her sisters out of school and begin an uncommon form of schooling called “Worldschooling.” Worldschooling is a niche idea of schooling originally founded in 2010-2015. It is believed in this community that children learn faster and more complex ideas of thinking at a young age, when exposed to other cultures. Worldschooling families spend all their time traveling around the world, most without a homebase. She loved exploring and reflecting on their history through writing. When Annabelle is not writing or at school she can usually be found at home with her family and dogs or at the barn riding horses. From a young age, she expressed a lot of love for animals, especially horses. One of her best friends, Myah Arter, would describe Annabelle as a “horse girl,” but she will always deny such accusations, then proceed to spend the next 30 minutes explaining how much she loves riding and how obese her lesson horse, Jodie, is. Even though Annabelle loves animals, she wants to pursue cosmetology during and after high school. She has always loved doing makeup and hair ever since she was little, and it has been her number one way to express herself, and to help others express themselves, today. But above all of that, Annabelle is someone who you can always go to when you are in need of a friend, she is someone who will listen to and help you solve whatever problems you may be facing. You can almost always guarantee a joke will be made to help whoever she is talking to feel better. Annabelle is very excited to begin her writing journey at The Tower!