When we think about great American literature, the kind of work that’s been studied at length and most often emulated, writers that come to mind are usually Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe and, in the case of OSU-Cascades, Taylor Swift. In the winter course of English 485: Studies in American Literature, Professor Jennifer Reimer is asking the question, what happens when we treat Taylor Swift’s lyrics as literature?
The course description has fun with song titles and lyrics, reading, “Are you ready for it? In this writing-intensive course, we’ll be fearless in treating Taylor Swift’s songwriting as literary art worthy of deep critical engagement — bridges that hit like thesis statements, metaphors layered like Easter eggs. From the folklore of her early country roots to the “evermore” evolution of her pop and indie eras, we’ll analyze her lyrics as complex texts that reflect — and refract — the American experience.”
When asked what inspired the idea for this course, Reimer says “Popular culture always tells us who we are — or at least who we’re being invited to become. As an American Studies scholar, I’m deeply interested in how cultural figures shape our understanding of race, class, gender, power and belonging, and it’s hard to think of a more influential figure in American cultural life right now than Taylor Swift. Her work offers a rich opportunity to apply an American Studies lens to questions about authorship, success, girlhood, capitalism, and whose stories are taken seriously in the public sphere.”
The students will be asked to consider Swift’s lyrics in the same way they might when examining more classical pieces of literature, “We’re certainly engaging in some classic close reading territory — looking at literary devices that are central to Swift’s songwriting, such as metaphor, simile, imagery, tone, slant rhyme and repetition. But I’m also asking students to expand what it means to read a text at all,” says Reimer.
The community will have the opportunity to engage with these ideas and more when Keith Nainby, professor of communication studies at California State University, Stanislaus, visits Bend Jan. 26 to lead a discussion titled, “I Can Feel Time Moving: Why Taylor Swift’s Art Endures (Past the Pop Present).” Nainby’s book “Examining Blank Spaces and the Taylor Swift Phenomenon: An Investigation of Contingent Identities” takes a look at Taylor Swift’s music and the effect she’s had on modern society. When asked how it was that Swift caught his attention, he says “Having had no previous experience with her music, and unable to name any song except “Shake It Off,” in 2014 I saw Swift perform “All Too Well” on solo piano during the Grammy Awards telecast. I was quite impressed and, to be candid, surprised, as I had formed the impression that I would not connect with her music because country and pop are not genres in which I had been deeply grounded as a listener. I made a mental note to check out her music, then didn’t get around to doing so until 2021, by which time I was curious about the noteworthy fervor and wide-ranging curiosity — from decoding Easter eggs to advocating for the artist in online spaces — off the Swiftie fan community. Once I began listening to her music intentionally and carefully, I was astonished at its strength; I was unprepared for how much it would move me, and I didn’t listen to much other music for nearly a year. I immersed myself in online Swiftie spaces throughout that time as well, as a way to make sense of what I was experiencing.”
In his book, Nainby points to three Taylor Swift songs as being “her most profound songs in lyrical terms.” “My Tears Ricochet,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “The Lakes.” In describing why he finds these songs to be the most lyrically significant, he says, “I find that these three songs offer uncommonly evocative poetic images to serve the common theme each of them offers, which I would describe as a narrator reflecting back on the significant events and perceptions that have brought that narrator to the pivotal point in their life that they find themselves at the moment of the songs’ unfolding. “My Tears Ricochet” features a stunning second verse in which the narrator acknowledges haunting the addressee, and that verse uses metaphor to link together weddings and funerals as transformative rites; scavenging and hoarding resources as acts of both selfishness and community-building; and people embracing and forsaking on another as twin parts of love — all in four compact lines. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” uses spiral imagery to show how we spin in the same spots in vain as we look outside ourselves for answers and then, after some effort, find the strength within to change ourselves. “The Lakes” explores poetically the question of whether there is, in this age of digital enmeshment in media and commerce, still a place to get away from it all or if that is now a vanishing hope.”
Both professors also make the comparison between Taylor Swift and Bob Dylan. Dr. Reimer saying, “We’ve looked at Bob Dylan, whose influence looms large in the history of American songwriting, and students have brought in their own cultural touchstones — naming artists like Madonna, Ani DiFranco, Patti Smith, and Joni Mitchell as their “Swifts.” Similarly, Dr Nainby offers his views, saying, “The most interesting deep parallel I see between the two of them, [Dylan and Swift] underneath the surface similarities of singer-songwriter artists with poetic lyrics and lofty cultural reputations, is that each of them remains wryly iconoclastic and actively resists efforts to attach specific political positions, platform endorsements or cultural perspectives to their names and bodies of work.”
The public is invited to join OSU-Cascades for a free evening of learning and discussion centered on this cultural icon and the importance of her lyrical work as well as the effect it has had on society Monday, Jan. 26 starting at 5:30pm.
Public Lecture "Why Taylor Swift’s Art Endures"
Mon, Jan. 26, 5:30-6:30pm
OSU-Cascades
1500 SW Chandler, Bend
Free with Registration: beav.es/taylor-swift.
This article appears in the Source January 22, 2026.
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