My best lessons are the ones that incorporate Miss Americana herself and using Taylor Swift as poetry means I have an excuse to play all her best songs. Besides speaking to my soul and defining my teens and twenties, Taylor Swift has amazing songs that are full of poetic elements that your students can analyze. Finding songs for poetry analysis is a great way to ease students into understanding how to analyze a poem. If you are frustrated with your students’ lackluster attempts at poetry analysis or you just want a reason to listen to Taylor Swift for the day, check out how I find ways to bring Taylor Swift into my poetry unit.
If you want to bring a little Taylor Swift into your lessons and don’t want to have to start from scratch check out my TSWIFT Poetry Graphic Organizers. Besides having Taylor Swift on every handout, students will learn how to analyze poetic elements and find cited examples. With both print and digital options, students will also examine the author’s purpose for the poem and how those elements help contribute to that purpose and can be customized to the poem(s) of your choice. If you want to see how I use these awesome handouts with Taylor Swift in all her glory, check out my lesson ideas below.
The Struggle with Poetry Analysis
Why My Students Just Weren’t Getting How to Write Poetry Analysis
When I first started teaching poetry analysis, I was incorporating the SWIFT poetry analysis method with my students. We would jump right into some of the great poems. I would teach them how to identify the speaker and the situation which was not necessarily a struggle. Thinking my students understand the basics, I had them search for all the poetic elements I could think of.
And just like that, the walls started to crumble. Students would struggle with a method to find all these elements. They weren’t sure how to take those elements and tie them together in a theme. They would start to get overwhelmed thus solidifying my students’ beliefs that poetry is hard and not for them. The struggle was real and my students and my lessons needed a change.
How Analyzing Taylor Swift Songs Changed My Poetry Unit
My inspiration for a change started with trying to find a relatable way to teach poetry. My students are obsessed with music so that seemed like the obvious choice. At first, I allowed my students to choose their own music but ended up down the rabbit hole just trying to find the “perfect” song.
That’s when I switched to choosing the songs for my students. I wanted to find clean songs full of figurative language, imagery, and themes. That’s where my love for Taylor Swift and her music came to the rescue. Every song is a Taylor Swift poem that highlights all of the main elements in the standard swift analysis. Besides my students recognizing most of the songs and lyrics, they finally started understanding how to analyze a poem. With a little off-key singing from me and major poetic creativity from Tay Tay, my class starts to get excited about poems!
Taylor Swift Song Analysis
Activity #1: Analyzing Taylor Swift Poem Lyrics Together
On the opening day of my poetry unit, we start off with a discussion of what makes a poem and how it differs from a novel or short story. Once we establish such characteristics as stanzas, lines, and shorter writing pieces, I bring up the discussion of songs and how they are written in the poetic form.
In order to prove my point, we listen to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well”. I recommend using the official lyric video and providing a copy of the lyrics so students can both listen to and read the words while the song plays. Once the song finishes, we start with identifying the speaker and situation. We have a conversation about how the speaker is not the author/singer so Taylor Swift cannot be the answer. We focus on the speaker as someone who has recently gone through a breakup and can’t let go of the past or stop remembering the relationship.
Once we understand the content of the song, we talk about how songs are organized with verses and choruses which are stanzas in poetic terms. We think about how the music and instrumentals set the tone for the piece. I have them search for imagery and figurative language that they remember from their younger years. Finally, we create a theme statement and discuss which words and lines best show the theme. This whole class discussion is setting them up for our next activity.
Activity #2: Taylor Swift Literary Analysis
The second way that I incorporate Taylor Swift in our first day of poetry is a Taylor Swift Song Choice Board. I create a choice board on Google Slides that have each of Taylor’s nine albums. *Note: For next semester, I am going to revise my board because Taylor Swift just released her newest album Midnights which you can check out HERE.
Here is my list of Taylor Swift songs that I use:
- Taylor Swift: Picture to Burn
- Fearless: Love Story
- Speak Now: Mine
- Red: I Knew You Were Trouble
- 1989: Out of the Woods
- Reputation: Getaway Car
- Lover: Miss Americana
- Folklore: Exile
- Evermore: Willow
Students are to choose a song from the choice board and listen to it. Once, they finish I have them complete a TWSIFT Poetry Cheat Sheet. This acronym poetry analysis worksheet organizes students’ thoughts by having them think about Tone, Structure, Word Choice, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Theme. As they listen, students will pull lyrics from the song to find examples for each part of the TSWIFT Poetry Cheat Sheet and then explain their answers in complete sentences. Students have the chance to learn how to properly cite poetry, identify poetic elements in a song, and analyze their song. If you want to check out my TSWIFT Poetry Cheat Sheet, click HERE.
T SWIFT Poetry Analysis Graphic Organizers
While not analyzing her music, another way that I bring Taylor Swift as poetry into my classroom is by using her name as an acronym to analyze poems. I created the TSWIFT Method adapted from the SWIFT poem analysis method. I even created Taylor Swift themed graphic organizers to go with the lessons. If you want to check them out, you can click HERE.
T is for Tone
Students never seem to understand the difference between Tone and Mood so I dedicate an entire day in my poetry unit to understanding tone and mood. Songs are a great way to show how different instrumentals set the tone. Using Taylor Swift as an example, I ask students to define the tone of each of Taylor’s albums. My students like to joke that she only writes about love and breakups so I challenge them to think about the different tones of each album. Sometimes she is romantic (SPEAK album) or independent (Reputation album) even her paired albums Folklore and Evermore have different tones.
For a poem example, we read two poems about the same topic but in different tones. I like using “Allowables” by Nikki Giovanni and “Mercy” by Rudy Francisco. They both discuss spiders but have two distinct tones. Students identify the mood and the tone with cited examples. Students then move on to analysis by considering how the tone contributes to the author’s purpose.
S is for Structure
For the next few days, we focus on structure. This concept is the foundation of most poetry analyses and the most diverse. There are so many types of structures that it is hard to teach them all. Instead, I focus on a few critical types. First, to show a traditional poem with a simple structure, we read “do not go gentle in that good night” by Dylan Thomas. Students use the Structure handout to evaluate rhyme schemes and stanzas. Finally, they determine how the structure contributes to the theme.
Once the students have the chance to see what structure should look like, I mess it all up with the poem “How to Write a Poem in Time of War” by Joy Harpo. This poem is perfect to teach students how structure can go all haywire to prove the author’s theme. We also dive into sonnets, haikus, free verse, and organic poetry.
W is for Word Choice
Once my students feel confident with structure, we move on to our W in the TSWIFT analysis. In the word choice graphic organizer, students look at impactful words and phrases that stand out to the reader. Students will find cited examples of impactful phrases. Finally, students analyze how the words lead to the author’s purpose. I use the poem “Plants” by Olive Senior because the poem focuses on how plants are at war with humanity. All the words are strong, aggressive, and warlike which shows how the author’s choice help to invoke the theme.
I is for Imagery
Perhaps the easiest letter in the TSWIFT acronym is imagery. Students have been learning about imagery for years (hopefully) and should be able to see the five senses in a poem. The imagery graphic organizer asks students to dig deep into the poem’s senses. Students will draw an image and analyze some of the most powerful images in the poem. Students will work towards discovering the theme and how the images contribute to the author’s purpose. I recommend using “Ogun” by E.K. Braithwaite. His poem focuses on a carpenter whose sorrow is shown throughout his work. There are vivid images and every sense can be found within the poem.
F for Figurative Language
When diving into figurative language, the most important part is making sure the students know the proper vocabulary. Here are the terms that I use with my students:
- Alliteration
- Simile
- Metaphor
- Repetition
- Personification
- Irony
- Symbol
- Allusion
- Hyperbole
We normally play some review games to make sure students understand these vocab words before diving into a poem. Students are going to find multiple examples of different types of figurative language first. They will give cited examples and explain what type of figurative language it is. Students will then pick out the most important figurative language and discuss its impact on the poem. Finally, they will analyze how figurative language contributes to the theme. I recommend using either “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes or “If” by Rudyard Kipling. Both poets have extensive examples of figurative language to analyze.
T is for Theme
Saving the best for last is the theme. As I tell my students, the theme is the most important thing that they will learn in my class. The theme is the foundation for everything they will read and analyze. I love using “So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye. Students first think about the focus of the poem to better help them create a theme statement. Once they have created their theme, they will find cited examples and analyze how they contribute to their author’s life lesson.
While not directly using Taylor Swift songs, the TSWIFT method allows us to talk about my favorite singer throughout the entire poetry unit. And, any chance that I can have Taylor Swift in my curriculum, I am going to take it.
Other Ways to Teach Poems
If you are looking for a new way to ease into poetry or just love Taylor Swift as much as I do, try these ways to incorporate the Queen of Pop into your lessons. If you bring Tay Tay into your lessons or you find a new way to engage your students in poetry, I would love to hear from you. My poetry unit is always changing and I could use your insights!
Ready to add Taylor Swift to your curriculum? Check out my TSWIFT Graphic Organizers that you can use for any poem in your unit. By using the T. S.W.I.F.T. acronym, students will analyze the Tone, Structure, Word Choice, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Theme of any poem. Students have the option to use the T. S.W.I.F.T. Cheat Sheet where they look at all parts of a poem or use the individual poem graphic organizers for each element for an in-depth look at the poetic elements. Plus, each graphic organizer includes an image of Taylor Swift. I hope you find some great ways to teach Taylor Swift as poetry.
Ready to take your literary analysis writer’s workshop to the next level?
Teaching how to write a literary analysis essay can be tough. If you want to simplify the writing process for your students while making sure you don’t forget any steps, then this toolkit is made for you!
Click HERE to learn more!