Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, boasts so many obscure references that it would take several tenured professors to discover and explain them all. While I am no professor, I do have the knowledge from a former obsession of the Ancient Greek world to pick out a few of her nods to classics.
1. Aristotle
On the second half of the album lies a very sweet song called “So High School.” In the song, Taylor sings “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle,” which definitely gave me pause on first listen, but now I find it pretty endearing.
Aristotle was a philosopher from the 300s BC whose influence on the modern world cannot be understated. Philosophy was a major part of the creation of universities in the Middle Ages and Aristotle was the favorite son, so much so that he became synonymous with education. This makes Miss Swift’s lyric even funnier to me, making the dichotomy there that much more apparent.
2. Cassandra
The second and most obvious of the Greek references in this album is the legend of Cassandra, noted in the song of the same name. The Cassandra of myth was a princess of Troy who was given the gift of prophecy. She is later cursed by Apollo, the same god who gave her the gift, that no one will believe her predictions, even though they are true. There are a few versions of the myth, but none feature a happy ending for Cassandra.
It is clear in referencing this myth that Taylor is alluding to the backlash she has gotten when calling out other members of celebrity circles. She was given this power of knowledge, and the same people who gifted it to her attempted to bury her accusations. I love this song because it is the perfect blend of the classic and the modern. Without changing tone or having mismatched lyrics, Taylor tells her own story alongside Cassandra’s as one narrative.
3. Sisyphus
The most subtle references to Greek mythology are Taylor’s allusions to Sisyphus. Sisyphus was a terrible king, and his punishment after death was to push a large boulder up a hill in the underworld and when he got to the top, it would roll back down and he would have to do it all over again. Because of this, Sisyphus is often used as an analogy for a task that is incredibly difficult but ends up being futile. Taylor references this story twice, the first time in “So Long, London” when she sings, “My spine split from carrying us up the hill.” The second is in “thanK you aIMee” where she talks about pushing each boulder up the hill. I think she is using each reference in different ways, but ultimately Taylor’s references to Sisyphus add an underlying layer of sadness to an already devastating album.
While TTPD is chock full of references from novels to poets to art movements, her nods to the Greek figures stood out to me the most. Overall they add to the aesthetic of the album in their sadness, but also in her commitment to emulating the Victorian poets (who were obsessed with classical learning)!