Image: Big Machine
About This Quiz
If a songwriter can pen a catchy tune, couldn't they author some pretty great poetry? One A-lister who has is none other than singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Sure, she's known for delving into her personal life in song, but she has also parlayed her creative talents into other forms of writing.
For example, in 2017, as she was set to appear on the cover of British Vogue, instead of granting an accompanying interview, T. Swift chose to write a poem she titled, "The Trick to Holding On." Here's an excerpt: "They don't tell you this when you are young/You can't hold on to everything/Can't show up for everyone." Will she turn it into a song? Is she trying her hand at being a more formal writer? The world may never know! The fact is, though, that songwriting and poem writing are easily cut from the same cloth.
It got us wondering: Could you tell the difference between a Taylor Swift song and a line of poetry (and not just the T. Swift variety)? Are these lyrics and lines from the music superstar, or poet E. E. Cummings? Sort the lyrics from the literary in this writing mash-up!
Taylor Swift
"Love Story" by Taylor Swift was released in 2008, the first single from her second album, "Fearless." Swift was said to have drawn inspiration for the song from the fictional story of Romeo and Juliet.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" was a sonnet written for her husband and fellow poet, Robert Browning. Their relationship was frowned upon by Elizabeth's father, but her feelings were made clear in this work.
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
The poem, "If You Forget Me," was written by Pablo Neruda. At the time of its writing, Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize, had been exiled from his native Chile. Most people believe Neruda wrote this poem for his third wife, Matilde Urrutia.
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift released "Wildest Dreams" in 2015 as part of the album, "1989." It achieved commercial success, rising to the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of multiple tracks from the album to do so.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
"Mine," a recording from Swift's 2010 album, "Speak Now," was written about a secret crush the singer once had. She has said in interviews that parts of the song are about letting her guard down in love.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
"A Drinking Song" sounds like it should be, well, a song, right? But it's not. It is a poem written by William Butler Yeats. The poem continues: "I lift the glass to my mouth,/I look at you, and I sigh."
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
"I loved you first: but afterwards your love" is a poem authored by English poet Christina Rossetti. The poem continues, "Which owes the other most? my love was long,/And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;"
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Taylor Swift
"Teardrops on My Guitar" was a 2007 hit for Swift, who released it as the second single from her self-titled debut album. Like many of Swift's songs, she wrote it about a personal experience with a friend for whom she had feelings.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
"To Be In Love" by Gwendolyn Brooks channels many of Taylor Swift's favorite topics, including love, relationships and both the good and bad that can occur as a result. Brooks was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
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Taylor Swift
"Tim McGraw" was the very first song debuted by a young Taylor Swift in 2006. Swift was only a freshman when she penned the lyrics to the song about a high school boyfriend.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Sara Teasdale authored the poem, "I Am Not Yours," a poem about her desire for a deep love. Teasdale was a poet who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and lived during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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Taylor Swift
"Blank Space" by Taylor Swift reached No. 1 just three weeks after it was released in 2014. It was included on the album, "1989," which sold more than 1.2 million copies its first week alone.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
"I Carry Your Heart With Me (I Carry It In)" is a poem written by American poet Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings. Cummings' poetry is well-known for being stylized in lowercase lettering, including that of his name — e e cummings.
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift's song, "Style," was a part of the singer-songwriter's fifth album, "1989," released in 2014. The song made its first appearance as part of a commercial for the retailer, Target.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
You didn't think T. Swift was the only one who could produce something called "Wild Nights," did you? This is a poem from Emily Dickinson, whose image would certainly not seem to fit the idea of "Wild Nights."
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Taylor Swift
Swift's song, "Me!," was the first song from her seventh album, "Lover." The song's lyrics continue, "Baby doll, when it comes to a lover/I promise that you'll never find another like/Me-e-e, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh."
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Adrian Henri wrote the poem, "Love Is," in the late 1960s. Henri, who hailed from Liverpool, England, died in 2000, but not before he became famous for this poem, which was included in the anthology, "The Mersey Sound."
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
The poem, "Before You Came," is the work of a poet named Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who died in 1984. Faiz was a poet of Indian descent who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Taylor Swift
These lyrics come from the 2008 Taylor Swift song, "Change." This song also served as a theme song of sorts to the 2008 Summer Olympics, and proceeds from the song benefited the U.S. Olympic Team.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift's "Safe & Sound" appeared on the soundtrack for the blockbuster movie, "The Hunger Games." The song also features vocals from The Civil Wars, an alternative country group.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
These are lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Back to December," a single from her "Speak Now" album in 2010. In this song, Swift delves into asking for forgiveness from a former flame.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Are we "Out of the Woods?" Swift was, with this 2006 single that was part of the "1989" album. Swift has alluded to the song being about a relationship she was in at the time and wondering what would happen next.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Have you ever considered what the word "love" means? Margaret Atwood's "Variations on the Word Love" goes into detail on this matter. Atwood is perhaps best known for her work, "The Handmaid's Tale."
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Dorothea Lasky's "Poem to an Unnameable Man" sounds like it could've been written by Swift, but it wasn't. The poem's next line, "Oh look at them shake," sounds straight off a Swift album, doesn't it?
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Joy Harjo wrote "For Keeps" in 2013, six years before she was named the U.S. poet laureate. She is the 23rd person appointed to that position and the first Native American to hold the title.
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Taylor Swift
Swift's "Everything Has Changed" features a vocal appearance by Ed Sheeran as part of her fourth album, "Red." Swift and Sheeran teamed up on writing this tune, which is said to have occurred in the songstress' backyard.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
"The Archer," released in July 2019, is part of Swift's album, "Lover." This song is yet another sneak peek into Swift's relationships and their ups and downs in the public eye.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
"I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You" is a poem authored by Pablo Neruda, a writer born in Chile in 1904. Neruda was known to write solely in green ink because of its symbolism of love and desire.
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Ella Wheeler Wilcox authored a poem she titled, simply, "I Love You." The words in this question are part of that poem. Wilcox is believed to have started writing poetry when she was just 7 years old.
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Taylor Swift
Perhaps a lesser-known Taylor Swift title, "Cornelia Street" was named after a location where Swift once rented an apartment. It is featured on her 2019 album release, "Lover."
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
We think this song is gorgeous - just like its title, "Gorgeous," by Taylor Swift. The song, which continues, "And I got a boyfriend, he's older than us/He's in the club doing, I don't know what/You're so cool, it makes me hate you so much," was part of Swift's "Reputation" album.
Poetry
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Contemporary poet and author Maya Angelou, who died in 2014, authored "Come, And Be My Baby." Angelou was an acclaimed American writer who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Poet Rita Dove wrote "Heart to Heart" in 2004, 10 years after she served as the U.S. poet laureate. The poem continues, "I can’t wear it on my sleeve, or tell you from the bottom of it how I feel./Here, it’s all yours, now — but you’ll have to take me, too."
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Taylor Swift
Poetry
Taylor Swift might totally have written a song called "Mad Girl's Love Song," but noted author Sylvia Plath beat her to it. The poem was first published in 1953, roughly a decade before Plath's death.
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Taylor Swift
"Soon You'll Get Better" is a song from Swift's 2019 release, "Lover." The Dixie Chicks are featured on background vocals in the song, which pays tribute to Swift's mother and her fight against cancer.
Poetry
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You Got:
/35
