31 Poetic Lyrics from The Tortured Poets Department

I must confess, I have listened to very little music other than Taylor' Swift’s 11th album since its release last month. As a writer and a lover of poetry, this album hits a sweet spot for me, particularly the tracks in the second half of the album, known as The Anthology. Many of those tracks are reminiscent of the Folklore/Evermore genre of storytelling. Most of the lyrics on this list paint such vivid visuals; they do read like little poems.

1. Putting narcotics into all of my songs and that's why you're still singing along – Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

2. Beauty is a beast that roars / down on all fours / demanding "more" – Clara Bow

3. A greater woman stays cool / But I howl like a wolf at the moon – The Prophecy

4. I got cursed like Eve got bitten – The Prophecy

5. What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway – Guilty as Sin?

6. So, I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street / Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream / "Who's afraid of little old me?" – Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

7. I was in my tower weaving nightmares / Twisting all my smiles into snarls – Cassandra

8. Cards on the table / Mine play out like fools in a fable – The Prophecy

9. Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses / Cooler in theory but not if you force it – Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

10. My beloved ghost and me / Sitting in a tree / D-Y-I-N-G – How Did It End?

11. We learned the right steps to different dances – How Did It End?

12. Still alive killing time at the cemetery / Never quite buried – loml

13. Dancing phantoms on the terrace / Are they second-hand embarrassed / That I can't get out of bed / Cause something counterfeit's dead – loml

14. The goddess of timing once found us beguiling / She said she was trying / Peter was she lying / My ribs get the feeling she did – Peter

15. A rose by any other name is a scandal – The Albatross

16. I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind / People need a key to get to, the only one is mine – I Hate it Here

17. Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all – But Daddy I Love Him

18. The crown is stained but you're the real queen – Clara Bow

19. All my mornings are Mondays / Stuck in an endless February – Fortnight

20. I look in people's windows / Transfixed by rose golden glows – I Look in People’s Windows

21. And she liked the way it tastes / Taming a bear, making him care / Watching him jump then pulling him under – The Bolter

22. The smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train through a small town – I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

23. My spine split from carrying us up the hill / Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill – So Long, London

24.  Dutiful daughter, all my plans were laid / Tendrils tucked into a woven braid – But Daddy I Love Him

25. You kicked out the stage lights / But you're still performing – The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

26. If all you want is gray for me, then it's just white noise – But Daddy I Love Him

27. I loved your hostile takeovers / Encounters closer and closer / All your indecent exposures – Down Bad

28. And you deserve prison, but you won't get time / You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars – The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

29. I felt more when we played pretend than with all the Kens ‘cause he took me out of my box – My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys

30. We broke all the pieces, but still want to play the game – Imgonnagetyouback

31. I cry a lot but I am so productive, it's an art – I Can Do It with a Broken Heart