veinsglisten

[veinsglisten]

The Black Dog is heart-wrenching

“shaking” “rain-soaked body” “in the shower”

“was it hazing / for a cruel fraternity I pledged / and I still mean it”

the diction, the scenes it depicts,

the sadness and desperation it conveys

so raw and visceral

“esoteric joke” makes me think of jack’s line on anti-hero about “art bro…talking shit about [his] famous baby”…

missing the smoke, the house on fire

the exorcism and screaming

the imagery it paints

and the dynamic she creates when singing

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #the black dog #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd references #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd analysis #ttpd theories #ttpd era #ttpd the anthology #ts11 theories #ts theories #swifties

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one more biblical reference from guilty as sin

“what if I roll the stone away

they’re gonna crucify me anyway”

Throughout the album, there are a lot of references to people and places, from legendary icons and renowned poets to a greek goddess and fictional characters, and from bars and hotels to cities and states.

There are also biblical references such as “I would’ve died for your sins” and “I got cursed like Eve got bitten”.

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #ttpd anthology #ttpd references #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd analysis #ttpd theories #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd era #guilty as sin #ts theories #ts11 theories #swifties

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In the anthology, there are some songs about childhood and growing up such as Peter, The Bolter and Robin.

Peter is bittersweet.

The storytelling in The Bolter gives me When Emma Falls in Love vibes.

Robin is so sweet and wholesome.

These songs are so folklore-coded.

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd anthology #ttpd analysis #ttpd theories #peter #robin #the bolter #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd release #ts11 theories #folklore #swifties

[veinsglisten]

Throughout the album, there are a lot of references to people and places, from legendary icons and renowned poets to a greek goddess and fictional characters, and from bars and hotels to cities and states.

There are also biblical references such as “I would’ve died for your sins” and “I got cursed like Eve got bitten”.

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #tsttpd #ts ttpd #taylor swift ttpd #ts11 theories #ttpd theories #ttpd analysis #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd era #ttpd release #ttpd references #swifties

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I Can Do It With a Broken Heart is about the Eras Tour!!

I welled up and almost cried!! The songs before this were all kinda depressing but then this song came up

The sounds in the background and the spotify reel playing

She said she was so depressed but she did it with a broken heart, for us!!!!

She’s always been so hardworking and productive

She wrote all these songs while being on tour and dealing with a heartbreak

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #i can do it with a broken heart #the eras tour #swifties #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd analysis #ttpd theories #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd era

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Clara Bow

the last great american dynasty 2.0

relating herself to iconic people

first clara bow, then stevie nicks and the outro

“you look like taylor swift

in this light, we’re loving it

you’ve got edge, she never did

the future’s bright, dazzling” ✨

of course she has this stanza at the end!!!

just like in tlgad, weaving the last thread about herself

I just love her!!! and the self-diss! of course!!

just like “who’s taylor swift anyway eww”

it gives me chills like the ending of miss americana

😭✨😭✨😭✨😭✨😭

she’s a legend!!!

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #clara bow #the last great american dynasty #tlgad #ttpd anthology #ttpd analysis #ttpd theories #taylor swift ttpd #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd release #ttpd era #swifties #stevie nicks

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As a girl named Twinkle,

I was crying, screaming and twinkling when I first listened to the song.

And now loving the song more and more and knowing about the TK and TS in pink,

my heart is so full. 😭💖✨

I hereby declare that I claim this song

and this song is mine!

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #tsttpd #ts ttpd #so high school #twinkling lights #taylor swift ttpd #swifties #ttpd anthology #ttpd analysis #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd theories #ttpd era #ttpd release

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🕊️🌿🪽📜🪶

the albatross is indeed inspired by the rime of the ancient mariner by coleridge

my research wasn’t done in vain

glad I had read the poem so I could understand and appreciate this beautiful poem at hand more fully

the instrumental and storytelling simply set the tone for the tale, and so naturally as well

the composition is well thought out, with the first two verses and choruses about people warning him about her, followed by the bridge as the transition to the last verse and chorus about her warning him about other people and rescuing him from danger, and ultimately he “[crosses his] thoughtless heart” and decides to believe that “she’s the albatross” and “she is here to destroy [him]”

what do you think about the ending?

🕊️ The Albatross 🪽

doing my research for the albatross as a dedicated member of the tortured poets department and reading two poems about the albatross by samuel taylor coleridge and charles bauldelaire and they are fascinating

the rime of the ancient mariner by coleridge is about a mariner killing an albatross who had helped him during the voyage and therefore bringing life-in-death and guilt upon himself, having to hang the dead albatross around his neck, as a sign of his guilt and regret

“'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?

By him who died on cross,

With his cruel bow he laid full low

The harmless Albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow,

He loved the bird that loved the man

Who shot him with his bow.'”

whereas the albatross by baudelaire is about seamen holding the once free and beautiful albatross in captivity and the albatross, which is now clumsy, crippled and ashamed, becomes the butt of the joke

“Scarcely have they placed them on the deck 
Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed, 
Pathetically let their great white wings 
Drag beside them like oars.

That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is, 
So beautiful before, now comic and ugly! 
One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe; 
Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew!”

“When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers, 
His giant wings prevent him from walking.”

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #tsttpd #ts ttpd #the albatross #the rime of the ancient mariner #samuel taylor coleridge #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd theories #taylor swift ttpd #ts11 theories #ts theories #ttpd anthology #ttpd analysis #swifties #poetry

[veinsglisten]

The folklore love triangle

as the ultimate folklore girl, I refuse to believe the folklore love triangle is indeed taylor, joe and potential “augustine”, whoever that is…

I’m in denial

I mean taylor has changed how we view her discography over the past few days

but this just subverts my worldview and hits my core

my mind is fucked, my heart is broken

watching some videos of the long pond session gives you so much context now

like how taylor explained betty and james would end up together despite the cheating but “james really put her through it” and the side eye from aaron dessner says it all, as if he knew what she was going through and was empathizing with her

she genuinely believed they could sustain the relationship at that time but now betty is in the denial playlist…

and in another video she emphasized that james was a fool

and a line from it’s time to go: “or that moment again, he’s insisting that friends look at each other like that”

that speaks volume as to what possibly happened…

and hoax

if you don’t count the lakes, hoax is the closing track

and it is just the saddest

“my best laid plan, your sleight of hand”

“sleight of hand”

“you knew it still hurts underneath my scars

from when they pulled me apart

but what you did was just as dark

darling, this was just as hard”

I can’t…

#folklore #5 stages of heartbreak #5 stages of grief #denial #in denial #folklore love triangle #folklore theories #betty #james #augustine #taylor swift #hoax #it’s time to go #ts theories #long pond studio sessions #swifties

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Lavender haze (denial) vigilante shit (anger) the Great War (bargaining) bigger than the whole sky (depression) and you’re on your own kid (acceptance) all being the first songs on each of their playlists is making me think so many things

[veinsglisten]

its just soooooo interesting to watch how, with every new project, her entire discography is recontextualized and seen in a new light not just by her fans but by HER too. different pieces of art are going to mean something different to you at different stages of your life, and its just really cool to see that is true for the artist herself as well. it doesnt discount what a song meant or what it was about when it was written: it can both transport you back to how you felt at the time AND give you clarity on how you ended up where you currently are and the challenges you were blind to then that seem obvious in hindsight. both can be, and are, true and completely valid. its just endlessly intriguing to watch her be in constant conversation with her younger selves, and by virtue of having grown up with her, doing so myself.

[veinsglisten]

The motif of marriage during the lover, evermore and midnights eras

it’s crazy how marriage, “bride” and proposal are mentioned many times throughout the lover, evermore and midnights eras in

lover, paper rings,

champagne problems,

lavender haze, midnight rain and you’re losing me

the bridge of lover is a whole wedding vow!!

and “[she’d] marry [him] with paper rings”!!

and how it ended up in “I wouldn’t marry me either / a pathological people pleaser / who only wanted you to see her”

so sad.

Blurred lines between reality and fiction

the whole time she had made up different pretense, masking what was going on behind the scene by saying that the songs were fictional / non-current / non-autobiographic and TRYING HER BEST TO PROTECT JOE AND THEIR POSSIBLY FAILING RELATIONSHIP

I can’t TT

she’s making me question everything during the folkmore eras

like how they wrote exile / evermore / champagne problems together (happily?, supposedly as a form of pastime during the pandemic)

and so why did the songs turn out to be about their own falling apart

I can’t TT

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #folklore #evermore #lover #midnights #paper rings #champagne problems #lavender haze #you’re losing me #midnight rain #exile #ts theories #swifties

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The Albatross and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

death and life-in-death rolling the dice and life-in-death claiming the mariner’s fate

what immediately comes to mind is “devils roll the dice” in cruel summer

I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or supernatural entities rolling the dice being a common trope in literature(?)

my interpretation is that taylor was the albatross and joe was the ancient mariner she helped him through tough times he shot her down and she became a burden to him

and here I guess life-in-death can be seen as a double of the albatross (?), and thus taylor herself

and the fact the mariner lived to recount his tale that haunted his life at a wedding (though not his own), given that marriage is a motif in various songs

and the closest thematic resemblance of this poem can be found in evermore, which they wrote together…

“whether weather be the frost,

(the albatross saved the mariner from being trapped in ice)

or the violence of the dog days

I’m on waves, out being tossed

is there a line that I could just go cross?

and when I was shipwrecked

I thought of you”

(the mariner shot the albatross and was henceforth stranded at sea and the albatross was on his mind as a burden of his guilt and regret)

#the albatross #the rime of the ancient mariner #the tortured poets department #ttpd theories #ts ttpd #taylor swift ttpd #taylor swift #samuel taylor coleridge #ttpd prep #ttpd predictions #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd tracklist #ttpd era #evermore #devils roll the dice #cruel summer

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LETS DISCUSS THE ALBATROSS

heres the albatross poem by  Charles Baudelaire translated to English

Often, for fun, the crewmen Take albatrosses, vast birds of the seas, Who follow, indolent traveling companions, The ship sliding across bitter chasms. As soon as they placed them on the boards, May these kings of the azure, clumsy and ashamed, Pitifully leave their large white wings Like oars dragging next to them. This winged traveler, how clumsy and spineless he is! He, once so handsome, how comical and ugly he is! One teases its beak with a burner, The other mimes, while limping, the cripple who was flying! The Poet is like the prince of the clouds Who haunts the storm and laughs at the archer; Exiled to the ground amid boos, His giant wings prevent him from walking.

It's like she says in Anti hero shes too big to hang out slowly lurking to your favorite city -- Shes Dragging her large white wings because shes been "caught"

She might be talking about during reputation, how she used to be handsome (loved by everyone)-- and how people betrayed her and the media calling her a liar "being comical and ugly" ( the butt of the joke, daylight) or maybe from the rumours of him cheating she felt so beautiful with him but then he made her feel "comical and ugly"

"one teases, the other mimes" - in reference to how he had that secret text message tortured club. hes miming and teasing her for being who she is, a poet, a songwriter a genius

"the poet" - TAYLOR

"who haunts the storm" - Every mornin', I glared at you with storms in my eyes

"laughs at the archer" - is she laughing at herself for her own archer song on lover thinking that he could stay, now she laughs because he couldn't??

"Exiled to the ground" - she cant spread her wings and fly and be herself when shes been shot out of the sky by this person. Shes Exiled to being in hiding, wishing she hadnt lost those years

"his giant wings prevent him from walking" - because shes so famous and so well loved, it prevents her from going outside otherwise they will be seen together, she will be in the public eye , again "TOO BIG TO HANG OUT" from anti hero

ALSO, Exile from Folklore - Laughin', but the joke's not funny at all. You're not my homeland anymore. So what am I defending now?

This is all a theory, not based on any facts, just rumours. I dot not claim to know about their relationship.

feb 23 2024

[veinsglisten]

the albatross being a famous poem about how the albatross comes with gifts and it’s special, how it helps this sailor and his group through the ice in the ocean, and is representative of good luck, but it’s berated by the sailors at the sea. the sailor literally shoots at it with his crossbow, and then later reminisces on his wrongdoing at a wedding, and he’s made to wear the dead albatross around his neck….. yeah yeah i see why taylor chose this

[veinsglisten]

🕊️ The Albatross 🪽

doing my research for the albatross as a dedicated member of the tortured poets department and reading two poems about the albatross by samuel taylor coleridge and charles bauldelaire and they are fascinating

the rime of the ancient mariner by coleridge is about a mariner killing an albatross who had helped him during the voyage and therefore bringing life-in-death and guilt upon himself, having to hang the dead albatross around his neck, as a sign of his guilt and regret

“'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?

By him who died on cross,

With his cruel bow he laid full low

The harmless Albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow,

He loved the bird that loved the man

Who shot him with his bow.'”

whereas the albatross by baudelaire is about seamen holding the once free and beautiful albatross in captivity and the albatross, which is now clumsy, crippled and ashamed, becomes the butt of the joke

“Scarcely have they placed them on the deck 
Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed, 
Pathetically let their great white wings 
Drag beside them like oars.

That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is, 
So beautiful before, now comic and ugly! 
One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe; 
Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew!”

“When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers, 
His giant wings prevent him from walking.”

#the albatross #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #ttpd era #ttpd predictions #ttpd tracklist #ttpdpoetryweek #ttpd prep #taylor swift ttpd #taylor swift #ts11 #ts11 theories #ttpd theories #poems #poetry #samuel taylor coleridge #the rime of the ancient mariner #charles baudelaire #l’albatros

[veinsglisten]

Fortnight (thoughts and ideas)

- A fortnight is British slang or word used to denote a period of 2 weeks

- Collaboration with Post Malone: maybe she needed a male voice, perhaps answering her in a call and response?

- Discusses various pivotal fortnights in the relationship, perhaps most specifically at the end of 2021/early 2022

- The back and forth/highs and lows experienced during Red TV release, writing Midnights, visiting YB in Panama, writing YLM, holidays with YB (Tahiti and Cornwall)

- Establishing the relationship was not solid but went back and forth from good to bad moments; from shakier to more solid ground

- About how quickly love can change, but also life itself, a relationship, your opinion of someone, etc. and tying that to the pivotal fortnights in 2021-early 2022 or even 2023

- How much her life and the relationship they built evolved and changed in fortnights when she embarked on the journey that was this album

- It can be all those events but mostly how her feelings toward and about him flip flopped: we know this had to be the case based just on the timing of her writing certain songs vs things happening in the relationship (ex: wrote YLM early December 2021 and went to Tahiti/Cornwall with him and then their families end of that month to early January)

- The story initially kept on the positive note: she left YLM off Midnights and that album ended with SN and Mastermind

- Setting the stage for how confusing a time/how confused she was and how exhausting and toxic this kind of love/relationship was to be in

- You can never really trust in the love if it keeps getting pulled out from under you - whether that’s because of his temper, or him retreating emotionally/physically/both, or potentially cheating, etc.

- Introduces the love bombing concept she’s made note of - Love bombing after weeks and months of crappy treatment only to repeat the cycle again which would set the scene for the album so well (which is what you want from an opening track)

- She establishes how broken she was from this - how impossible it felt to try and leave behind/how incapable she was of getting herself out of this, yet how she couldn’t sustain the relationship either

- Perhaps sets the stage for why it ended long distance - she had to do it that way in order to do it with real finality

- Maybe the lyrics reenact an actual fight they had in the bridge - an actual conversation (which is why having a male voice on it was deemed necessary)

- It acts like a bridge between her discography since rep, and track 2 which is the title track -> The Tortured Poets Department (potentially the poem/song of the breakup itself)

- It took her a fortnight to move on from midnights to TTPD:

* Midnights

* Fortnight

* The Tortured Poets Department (Title track but actually also the album and from here on we might see a chronological flow)

- Offers a bridge for listeners from the narrative previously painted in her discography into the breakup