THE University of Texas, in Austin, is giving students the chance to study the letters of Taylor Swift alongside works by literary icons such as Shakespeare, John Keats and Robert Frost.
The school is offering a course – “The Taylor Swift Songbook” — this fall as part of its liberal arts program. It comes on the heels of a Swift-themed class at New York University last spring, which ended with the singer as a commencement speaker.
English teacher Elizabeth Scala told CNN she chose Swift because the pop star writes her own music and her lyrics can help illuminate similar techniques in classical poetry.
“This is a course on her songs as literary writing and the ways a popular, award-winning writer uses the same literary devices, figures and tropes of traditional poetry in her work,” she said. “It’s not about celebrity or fame.”
Students will study Swift’s songs alongside the writings of great names in Western literature.
“They will be asked to analyze and contextualize common practices and problems over the centuries,” said Scala.
Scala is a self-described Swift fan and said her goal is to teach literary traditions through a contemporary lens.
“I want to take what Swift fans can already do on a sophisticated level, tease them a bit with a different vocabulary, and then show them how, in fact, Swift draws on richer literary traditions in her songwriting, both topically and topically. but also formally in terms of how she uses references, metaphors and clever word manipulations,” said Scala.
“I’m going to show students that these operations and interpretive movements that you do when reading your music are appropriate for all forms of writing.”
In 2022, Scala also created an Instagram for the gang where she posts fun facts about Swift and asks fans questions.
The class will focus primarily on songs from Swift’s recent albums, but students are free to bring older songs for discussion, Scala said.
With most lyrics posted online and songs available on Apple Music or Spotify, students don’t have to buy music for class, she said.
The course will also cover topics such as genre, authenticity, the influence of fans on artists and writers, and how the history of language and linguistic traditions enrich the reading experience, said Scala.
“I think it’s important to connect the curriculum to the present, but I’m not willing to give up the past. This is my way of bringing old material back with relevance,” she added.
In 2015, UT Austin introduced a class titled “Beyoncé’s Feminism, Rihanna’s Feminism” to explore black feminism.
Other universities have also made headlines for courses centered on pop stars, including “Beyoncé, Gender and Race” at the University of Copenhagen and a sociology course at the University of South Carolina devoted to the work of Lady Gaga.
Next spring, Texas State University will offer a class on the British pop singer Harry Styles .
Source: CNN Brasil
With 6 years of experience, I bring to the table captivating and informative writing in the world news category. My expertise covers a range of industries, including tourism, technology, forex and stocks. From brief social media posts to in-depth articles, I am dedicated to creating compelling content for various platforms.
