A new course on the songwriting of Taylor Swift is set to begin at the University of Texas (UTA) in Austin.
The new course, which begins this autumn and is titled The Taylor Swift Songbook, will see her read alongside the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats and Sylvia Plath.
Preliminary texts for the course include her 2020 lockdown albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’, 2019’s ‘Lover’ and the new ‘Taylor’s Version’ reissue of ‘Red’.
According to a description on the UTA website, the course will use “the songwriting of pop music icon Taylor Swift to introduce literary critical reading and research methods-basic skills for work in English literature and other humanities disciplines.
It adds: “Focusing on Swift’s music and the cultural contexts in which it and her career are situated, we’ll consider frameworks for understanding her work, such as poetic form, style, and history among various matters and theoretical issues important to contextualisation as we practice close and in-depth reading, evaluating secondary sources, and building strong arguments.”
Earlier this year, New York University’s Clive Davis Institute launched a new course on Swift. The course began at the Davis Institute, which is part of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, on January 26 ran through to March 9.
In May, Swift then delivered a commencement address for New York University’s class of 2022. The pop star was also awarded an honorary doctorate before she gave the speech at the city’s Yankee Stadium.
“I’m 90% sure the reason I’m here is because I have a song called ’22’,” Swift joked, adding: “Last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard. This outfit is much more comfortable.”
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