Taylor Swift has taken the world by a storm recently; gracing the big screen with her Eras Tour movie, to news of her new American-footballer love interest, Travis Kelce, she is certainly in the limelight.
Remarkably, she doesn’t stop here; extending her influence beyond the music industry and into academia - she now has a role in redefining university syllabuses. In light of this, Russell Group Queen Mary University of London has newly announced a ‘Taylor Swift and Literature’ summer school course, where students will critically analyse Swift’s songs, gaining an understanding of pop-culture’s connection with literature.
The programme explores whether Swift’s iconic songwriting can be deemed as works of literature, looking fundamentally at whether she is ‘worth studying in the same way that one would study Shakespeare or Dickens?’. According to the course overview, students ‘will build an understanding of Swift as an artist who is deeply interested in the relationship between her lyrics and the literature of the past’. Additionally, due to Queen Mary’s London location, the course aims to focus its attention on how the UK, and London in particular, feature in Taylor Swift’s genius lyrics.
This two-week long course commences in June 2024, where Swifties will take part in 150 hours of study, including lectures, seminars, and field trips, for a tuition fee of a steep £2,100. As part of the course, students are to be assessed through a 2,500-word essay, accounting for 80% of their grade, and a 10-minute presentation worth the remaining 20%.
Surprisingly, Queen Mary University is not the first to offer a Taylor Swift inspired course. In fact, you can study Taylor Swift courses and modules at universities around the world, including a course called ‘Psychology of Taylor Swift: Advanced Topic of Social Psychology’ at Arizona State University, a module named ‘Literature (Taylor’s Version)’ for masters students at The University of Ghent in Belgium and even an ‘All Too Well (Ten Week Version)’ course at Stanford University.
Taylor Swift’s ability to combine music and storytelling has resonated with fans worldwide, making her a fascinating figure for academic investigation. Moreover, having released 10 original studio albums which she has won a host of awards for, her extensive discography is certainly one to delve into.
Whilst no university currently offers a degree exclusively on Taylor Swift, it is likely that we shall see an increase in universities offering courses related to the musical mastermind of this era in coming years, as her unique sound begins to captivate scholars and fans alike.