Texas University to hold classes on Taylor Swift's song
The University of Texas at Austin is offering a new literary course where Taylor Swift's lyrics are studied alongside works of literary icons like Shakespeare, John Keats and Robert Frost.
"The Taylor Swift Songbook," a brand new course for Fall 2022 taught by Dr Elizabeth Scala provides an introduction to literary studies and research methods that uses her songwriting as the basis for teaching a wide range of skills.
English Professor Elizabeth Scala told CNN that she chose the pop stars song for literary analysis as "Taylor Swift writes her own lyrics."
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"This is a course on her songs as literary writing and the ways a popular and award-winning writer uses the same literary devices, figures, and tropes of traditional poetry in her work," Scala told CNN.
"It is not about celebrity or fame," she added.
According to the course's official description, "Students will address topics such as gender, authenticity, and the authorship of a writer's texts, as well as the ways in which readers and fans impact how artists and writers work and produce."
Scala has also created an Instagram profile for the class where she asks Swift's song-related analytical questions.
Mandatory materials for the class include the "All Too Well" singer's four most recent albums — Red (Taylor's Version), Lover, Folklore and Evermore, reported Billboard.
However, students can bring in Taylor's old songs for discussion.
The course aims to explore contemporary literature but also links it with the literary works of the past.
Earlier in 2015, the University of Texas introduced "Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism," as a class which deciphers contemporary Black feminism.
