Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department' is here. Is it poetry? This is what experts say

But just how poetic is it? Is it even possible to close read lyrics like poems, divorced from their source material?IS TAYLOR SWIFT A POET?“My personal opinion is that if someone writes poems and considers themself a poet, then they’re a poet," she says. “And Swift has demonstrated that she takes it pretty seriously. She's mentioned Neruda in her work before, she has an allusion to Wordsworth, she cites Emily Dickinson as one of her influences.

“It's proper to talk about every songwriter as a poet,” says Michael Chasar, a poetry and popular culture professor at Willamette University. As for current U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón? “Poetry and song lyrics aren’t exactly the same ,” she wrote to the AP. "But having an icon like Taylor bring more attention to poetry as a genre is exciting.”Scala sees Swift's influences on “The Tortured Poets Department” as including Sylvia Plath, a confessional poet she previously drew inspiration from on songs like “Mad Woman” and “Tolerate It.

Swift has long played with rhyme and unexpected rhythm. “She’ll often establish a pattern and won't satisfy it — and that often comes in a moment of emotional ache," says Adair. “From the perspective of harnessing particular poetic devices, this kind of trucks in familiar metaphors for one’s emotional state,” Chasar says of “Fortnight.”

The title “Fortnight,” he adds, “is totally poetic. It's also a period of 14 days, or two weeks. For most of us ‘lost in America,’ it means a paycheck."“She's making references to Greek mythology,” say Scala, like in “Cassandra," which is part of a surprise set of songs Swift dropped Friday.

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