Dear Reader: Taylor Swift Literary & Film Analysis Classes
What can I say? I love Taylor Swift. I love her music so much that I couldn’t get enough of the literary Easter eggs I saw written into her lyrics, and I built a class around analyzing them.
When I announced Dear Reader: A 10-Week Literary Study of Taylor Swift’s Discography in January 2024, I had no idea the kind of response I would have. The class took off quickly—I arranged local partnerships to promote signups for the class and organized the marketing plan. I researched, structured, and taught class material, covering topics from Romanticism to Gothic Literature, Shakespeare to Shelley, and how it intertwined with Taylor’s music.
Each week, more than 90 students, online and in-person, representing 14 states and from every conceivable background (highschoolers, retired professors, lawyers, super fans, casual listeners) enthusiastically returned for two hours to learn, discuss, and connect with like-minded individuals who all shared a love for Taylor Swift and the classic books we grew up reading.
What I didn’t initially grasp was not just how much people wanted to be part of this class, but how deeply they connected with the material. The realization hit me during our lesson exploring feminine identity in literature, with works like The Bell Jar and Jane Eyre and their comparison to Taylor Swift songs like "The Man” and "mad woman." After the discussion, one student, who had been vocal about the misleading portrayal of women as "hysterical" in life and art, confided in me about the struggles she was having with her ongoing divorce. She pushed herself to attend the week’s lesson because it was something "just for her."
The magic of Dear Reader continued to unfold in remarkable ways outside our in-person and online classroom. We raised over $500 for Trust Tree, a local nonprofit empowering young girls through music, and contributed to raising $1,000 for choir risers to help a music teacher in our class. A mom who felt isolated because she liked Taylor Swift used the class to bond with her 13-year-old daughter.
Witnessing the transformation of Dear Reader from a class to a community, I knew its impact couldn't end after 10 weeks, and I decided to write a book on the same material. I wanted to encourage people to channel their love for Taylor Swift into creativity and analysis, to spark book clubs, classes and conversation, and to find their own community over shared interests. Most importantly, I wanted to encourage people to follow their joy—no matter if that joy is Taylor Swift, reading, or anything else!
In partnership with my fiancée, Whitney Butler, who handles all the graphic design for the class, we’re now teaching a second edition of Dear Reader—a cinematic study of Taylor Swift’s music.
