English Professor Elizabeth Scala advised CNN that she picked Swift as a result of the pop star writes her personal music and her lyrics might help illuminate related methods from traditional poetry.
“This can be a course on her songs as literary writing and the methods a well-liked and award-winning author makes use of the identical literary gadgets, figures, and tropes of conventional poetry in her work,” she stated. “It’s not about movie star or fame.”
College students will research Swift’s songs alongside the writings of Western literature greats.
“They will be requested to research and contextualize widespread practices and issues throughout the centuries,” Scala stated.
Scala is a self-described Swift fan and stated her purpose is to show literary traditions via a up to date lens.
“I wish to take what Swift followers can already do at a complicated stage, tease it out for them a bit with a distinct vocabulary, after which present them how, in reality, Swift attracts on richer literary traditions in her songwriting, each topically but in addition formally by way of how she makes use of references, metaphors, and intelligent manipulations of phrases,” Scala stated.
“I will be displaying college students that these operations and interpretive strikes one makes when studying her songs are acceptable to all types of writing.”
The category will largely give attention to songs from Swift’s current albums, however college students are free to convey up older songs for dialogue, Scala stated. With a lot of the lyrics posted on-line and the songs obtainable on Apple Music or Spotify, college students do not have to purchase music for the category, she stated.
The course additionally will handle subjects comparable to gender, authenticity, followers’ affect on artists and writers, and the way language historical past and linguistic traditions enrich the studying expertise, Scala stated.
“I feel it is necessary to attach the curriculum to the current, however I am not keen to cede the previous. That is my means of sneaking the older materials again in with relevance,” she added.
