Looking for The Tortured Poets Department activity that you can use with your students? Friend, I have just the thing for you. My list of six The Tortured Poets Department activities that you can do with your class. First, teaching Taylor Swift as poetry is a great way to bring Miss Americana into your classroom. And what better way to do that than with The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) album? When this album was first released, I wanted to do more than have a TTPD listening party. We are close to the end of the year. That means that every day of instruction needs to count. And, that’s why I created The Tortured Poets Department activities. So, instead of just listening to Taylor Swift songs, your students will complete poetry analysis. Keep reading below to see how you can set up The Tortured Poets Department lesson plan in your classroom.
Looking to have The Tortured Poets Department resource ready for you without having to create them yourselves? Check out The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource. In this print or digital resource, students will analyze The Tortured Poets Department songs. Students will do more than just listen to the songs. In this resource, they will analyze the style of the album. Students will complete the T SWIFT poetry analysis on tortured poets. They will then focus on the “Fortnight” music video. Plus, there are other activities for students to analyze the TTPD album. Now that you have The Tortured Poets Department Activities ready to go, keep reading to see how to set it up in your classroom.
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The Tortured Poets Department Taylor Swift Background
TTPD Overview
First, The Tortured Poets Department album is Taylor Swift’s eleventh album in her career. This album was released on April 19th, 2024. After its release, the album was revealed to be a double album subtitled The Anthology. The album totals 31 songs with collaborations with Post Malone and Florence and the Machine.
Taylor Swift announced her album at the Grammys when her previous album Midnights won Best Pop Vocal Album, she announced her new album. Immediately, Taylor Swift’s social media accounts switched all her profiles to black and white. Her website also appeared to have failed with the HTTP error code: 321 and an error code “hneriergrd” which was an anagram for “red herring”. Spotify also created a popup library for The Tortured Poets Department with lots of clues and allusions related to the album.
The Tortured Poets Department Meaning
In case you are unaware of the significance of The Tortured Poets Department album, Taylor Swift described the album as her “lifeline”. This album tracks the emotional turmoil of Swift in the last two years of her relationships. As the setlist was released for this album, fans theorized that the songs sounded like the stages of heartbreak. At this point, Taylor Swift released playlists that showed how the songs fit into those stages. So, providing students with this background information is helpful to them in understanding the overall feel of the album. Plus, you can use this information to help build hype for the lesson.
Have students analyze The Tortured Poets Department album meaning and search for the style, mood, and tone.
The Tortured Poets Department Activity List
The Tortured Poets Department Taylor Swift Album Analysis
The first activity for the day is The Tortured Poets Department Album analysis. Students start by reading the epilogue to the album. It is poem called “In Summation” written by Taylor Swift. The poem really sets the tone of the entire album. Have students read the poem and give their first impressions. Then have students look over the album art and the posts leading up to the release of the album. Then, students should then analyze the mood, tone, style, and the album based on these impressions.
Don’t feel like finding all these resources or creating a worksheet? Check out The Tortured Poets Department resource that I designed. You can have all the websites linked with a QR code and hyperlink. Plus a worksheet with space for the students to write their impressions as well. 
The Tortured Poets Department Poets
One of the most obvious lessons to teach with this album is poetry, However, while in the title, Taylor Swift’s album does not actually mention many poets. She includes just one: Dylan Thomas. But, not taking the time to discuss poetry is a missed opportunity. So, I created my own Tortured Poets Department. You can choose to add whichever poets you think would work well for your students. I chose well-known poets who are renowned for their dark poetry.
Here are the poets that I used:
- Dylan Thomas: “do not go gentle into that good night”
- Sylvia Plath: “Elm”
- Edgar Allen Poe: “Spirits of the Dead”
- Emily Dickinson: “Because I could not stop death (479)”
- Charles Baudelaire: “The Abyss”
- Anne Sexton: “You, Doctor Martin”
I also include links to Taylor Swift’s song “The Tortured Poets Department” and Stevie Nicks’ prologue that she wrote for the album “For T and Me”.
Students have the choice to select one of the poets in The Tortured Poets Department. Then, students analyze the poem using my T Swift Poetry Analysis method. They find examples of Tone, Structure, Word Choice, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Theme in the poem. If you want to see how I teach the T SWIFT Poetry Analysis method, check out my blog post How to Teach Taylor Swift as Poetry for High School Students.
If you really love this method, you can snag The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource. You will have everything you need for your students to complete their analysis.
Fortnight Music Video Meaning
Next, one of the activities is analyzing Taylor Swift Post Malone Fortnight music video. First, students read the lyrics of the song “Fortnight”. Students decipher the story of the song based on the words only. The lyrics tell a clear story of past lovers who are no longer together and can’t let go of each other.
Once students think they understand the story, have them watch the Fortnight music video. I created a viewing guide that helps students to understand the deeper meaning of the video. The music video tells the story of a woman tortured by her past love to the point where she is driven insane. After watching the video, we review the answers and discuss the symbolism of the elements of the music video.
If you want all the reading comprehension questions that I use for the Fortnight music video meaning, check out The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource which has everything that you need.
For a Fortnight Challenge
Taylor Swift is known for creating social media challenges to accompany her albums. For The Tortured Poets Department, the challenge was #forafortnightchallenge. In this challenge, Swifties are challenged to create a 1-second clip for 14 days in a row. First, we watch Taylor Swift’s fortnight challenge video. Then, I have students think about their own fortnight challenge. While this activity requires students to complete this assignment over two weeks, they only need a 1-second clip for each day. A fortnight after this challenge, host a viewing party to have students share their #forafortnightchallenge.
If you want a detailed assignment for the #forafortnightchallenge, check out my The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource.
The Tortured Poets Department Dictionary
A fun Swiftie activity that popped up with this album is The Tortured Poets Department dictionary. Taylor Swift uses a lot of high academic vocabulary in her songs for this album. As a result, Swifties have created their own TTPD dictionary. They pull academic words from the lyrics and define them for all the Swifties.
For this activity, students will do the exact same thing as the Swifties. Students will find unfamiliar vocabulary words from the lyrics of the songs in The Tortured Poets Department. They will create a vocab chart with the words they do not know. Students will then look up the definitions of each word. And, they add the lyrics containing each word. That way students remember the word in context.
If you want a ready-made The Tortured Poets Department dictionary chart, check out my The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource. Besides having the chart for your students, you will have an answer key. So, you don’t have to find examples on your own.
Taylor Swift 5 Stages of Heartbreak Playlist
As mentioned before, Swifties theorized that The Tortured Poets Department songs fit into the 5 stages of heartbreak. The stages they created were Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Have students look at The Tortured Poets Department tracklist. Then, they should place each song in the right category. If you want to check your answers, check out Taylor Swift’s 5 Stages of Heartbreak playlists.
If you want to have this activity set up for you, check out The Tortured Poets Department Activities resource.
More Taylor Swift Lesson Plan
Taylor Swift Lesson Plan: How to Use Taylor Swift Songs as Poetry
How to Teach Taylor Swift as Poetry for High School Students
Taylor Swift Lesson Plan: How to Use Taylor Swift Songs as Poetry
So now you bring Taylor Swift into your classroom with The Tortured Poets Department activities. Instead of wasting a day of curriculum, bring analysis and rigor to your classroom. And, you still get to chat about Taylor Swift while having the students learn. If you want to make your life even easier, don’t forget to check out my The Tortured Poets Department Activities. Everything you need to get started is all included.
If you found this blog post to be really helpful and you want to see more like it, go check out the rest of my blog posts at www.theteacherrewrite.com. And on Instagram @theteacherrewrite. I focus on all the ELA resources, tips, and tricks that you need to make your life easier. Without having to rewrite your curriculum Let me do all the hard work for you! I hope to see you over there! And as always, remember to think smart, not hard. So steal my The Tortured Poets Department activity and let’s get started.
