Lit Review
Alexis Spurlock
Dr. Vrooman
COMM 378
17 October 2021
Ladies Lunching: Songs as Literary Texts
Introduction
Until recently, songs were not necessarily thought of or considered as literary texts. While they resemble poetry, many still believe they are two completely separate forms of media and therefore cannot be counted together in the same category. In this paper, I will attempt to explain why songs lyrics could, in fact, be viewed as literature; as well as make a case for feminist literature in particular and how it can be applied to song lyrics written by the musical artist Taylor Swift.
Songs as Literature
Throughout history, pop culture- such as music- and literature have been kept apart, being seen as separate things that do not overlap: each staying in its respective field. However, in 2016, this way of thinking was contested when Bob Dylan, a famous singer-songwriter, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” (nobelprize.org). This was a huge breakthrough in the case for musical lyrics being taken seriously and being given the same attitude and prestige as classical literature like Shakespeare’s sonnets. While lyrics may look a little different, or repeat phrases more often than other types of literature, they are still literary texts, as they are considered works of the creative imagination (thoughtco.com). Another definition of literature states that it is “not only what is written but what is voiced, what is expressed, what is invented, in any form” (harpers.org).
Two literary theorists, Karl Marx and Kenneth Burke, further support this conclusion. Marxists view texts as material products, seeing literary works as products of work (Murfin/Ray 243). This suggests that a “text” is anything that is made by the product of labor- anything that somebody put work into to create. Such is the case with songs and the way they are created. Furthermore, in his novel The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action, Burke uses the term “poetry” to “include any work of critical or imaginative cast” (Burke 1).
Why Taylor Swift’s Lyrics are Literature
Not only does all of this evidence support the right for lyrics to be counted as literature, it also supports the right for Taylor Swift’s lyrics to be counted as literature as well. However, going further in depth as to the reasons behind this conclusion, Taylor Swift is arguably just as prolific and popular as Bob Dylan who, as previously mentioned, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She has released around 200 songs in her 15 year long career, is the second most streamed female artist on Spotify (modachicago.org), and at the American Music Awards in 2019, she won the artist of the decade award. Not only does she make use of plenty of figurative language in her lyrics, she also uses tons of allusions to other literary texts, such as The Great Gatsby, Alice in Wonderland, The Sun Also Rises, etc. She is also a storyteller: creating different characters and scenarios in her songs that play out similarly to how a novel would. A prime example of this is the love triangle between Betty, James, and August told in a series of 3 songs where each gets their own voice to recall the events from their own point of view.
Feminist Theory
Feminist criticism can be seperated into two categories. The first focuses on women as readers and is concerned with women being the consumer of male produced literature and the exploitation and manipulation of the female audience as well as how the interpretation of the text changes when its reader is female. The second category focuses on women as writers and producers of textual meaning. This also includes studying female creativity, language, and the writer’s literary career or history (Showalter).
There are also phases of feminsit writing, sorted as Feminine, Feminist, and Female. In the Feminine phase, women internalized what men said about them and wrote in an effort to match the opposite sex’s intellectual achievments. The Feminist phase, women contested the previous notions of females and wrote stories about women being mistrerated and misrepresented; and began challenging the patriarchy. Finally, in the Female phase, women “reject both imitation and protest” and instead attempt to redefine the female experience (Showalter).
Third Wave Feminism branches off of the previous waves in which their main focus is on white, heterosexual, middle class women and expands to include marginalized people groups including the LGBTQ+ community and people of color (owl.purdue.edu).
Conclusion
With most of the background knowledge and research, the final step is to analyze Taylor Swift’s song lyrics using a feminist theory lens. While doing so, I will attempt to determine how focusing on the woman as a writer affects the interpretation of the texts versus focusing on the woman as a reader, as well as discovering which phase of feminist writing, if any, these texts fall into. If I expand my set of texts, I can also explore the idea of Third Wave Feminism and how it is seen in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s song lyrics.
Works Cited
Bingham, Roxanne. “Taylor Swift-The Poet of Our Generation.” The Spellbinding Shelf, 31 Dec.
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Full Text of "Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action",
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Henderson, Greig E. “‘Literature Makes Something Happen’: Frank Lentricchia on Kenneth
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Larocca, Courteney. “Taylor Swift Is the Artist of the Decade.” Insider, Insider, 12 Dec. 2020,
www.insider.com/taylor-swift-artist-of-the-decade-2010s-2019-12.
Lee, Grace. “On Taylor Swift's Longstanding Cultural Impact.” MODA, MODA, 8 Apr. 2021,
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Lombardi, Esther. “What Literature Can Teach Us.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 31 Jan. 2020,
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The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sun. 17 Oct
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