The Rhetoric of Swift (Taylor, not Jonathan)

Two tweeters provide the definitive guide to rhetorical devices

Jonathan Swift and Taylor Swift. Caricatures in the style of John Tenniel (1820-1914), generated by AI via Craiyon.com

I have no trouble admiring Taylor Swift’s talents as a songwriter, performer, and businessperson, though I’ve rarely listened purposefully to any of her music. Somehow, I stumbled across two Twitterati who greatly increased my admiration for her work by showing her use of 31 rhetorical devices. (I was a literature major in college, but feel no shame in noting that I had been unfamiliar with just over half the terms.)  

One of the Tweeters lists his name as Christian Tucci (@chrtucci), and the other goes by Nicholai (@2AMevermore). I know nothing whatsoever of either person, and my knowledge of each is limited to a single thread. On November 16, 2020, Tucci issued a Tweetstorm that began with, “Here's a thread of examples of rhetorical devices in Taylor Swift lyrics”—and garnered tens of thousands of likes and retweets. On April 9, 2022, Nicholai produced “A thread of examples of literary/rhetorical devices in Taylor Swift’s songs”—and has thus far earned a few thousand likes and retweets. There’s considerable overlap between the two, though each appears to have done independent research in compiling his list.

When I first came across Tucci’s list, I wrote to a musician friend and said:

I can’t fathom how he chose Taylor Swift, determined that all of these devices would appear in her lyrics, and then found them all.

I wondered whether Tucci is a Swift fan or simply perused the lyrics by brute force as a research project. My friend responded:

My guess is that these techniques are second-nature in pop-songwriting, such that a perusal of the body of work of any pop songwriter of any longevity and competence will turn up these examples. Reading the list of terms, I found myself wondering what examples I would produce if I had to produce a list based solely on Beatles lyrics. I’m pretty sure I could. John Lennon in particular seemed fond of many of these devices.

This all came to mind last week when I shared a coffee with a highly successful songwriter and music producer. He was talking about the meticulous work that goes into a successful career in songwriting and singled out Taylor Swift as one who has been especially methodical and hard-working. Nothing accidental about her success. I got home, collated and reorganized the Tucci and Nicholai tweets and sent it on to him. His response was “This Taylor Swift thing is wild.”

And, now, I’ll share it with you. As one who writes essays, speeches, songs, and short fiction, I plan to keep this list in my desk. If any readers are teachers of these subjects, you can easily organize a lecture or two from the combined work of these two tweeters and, of course, from the hard work of Ms. Swift.

(Notes: some of these entries appeared on both lists, and I arbitrarily eliminated one or the other. I reformatted the entries to differentiate lyrics from titles. I do not know Ms. Swift’s oeuvre well enough to guarantee that she was the lyricist on each and every one of these songs, but a quick survey suggests that she probably is.)

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1. ADNOMINATION: the repetition of words with the same root in a sentence. “That you never loved me, or her or anyone, or anything” [I Knew You Were Trouble] —@chrtucci

2. ALLITERATION: the use of the same letter or sound at the beginning of connected words. “Balancing on breaking branches” [Exile] “I polish plates until they gleam and glisten” [Tolerate It]  —@2AMevermore

3. ALLUSION: an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, thing, or another text. “Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon” [Cowboy Like Me] “Your Midas touch on the chevy door” – [Champagne Problems] —@2AMevermore

4. ANAPHORA: the repetition of a word or phrase in successive clauses. “This love is good, this love is bad, this love is alive back from the dead” [This Love] “I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss, I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs…” [Cardigan] —@2AMevermore

5. ANASTROPHE: the inversion of the usual order of words/clauses. “Gold was the color of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park” – [Invisible string]; “Long were the nights when my days once revolved around you” [Dear John] —@2AMevermore

6. ANTANACLASIS: the repetition of a word within a phrase or sentence in which the second occurrence utilizes a different meaning from the first. “Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes” [Cruel Summer]; “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you” [Cruel Summer] —@2AMevermore

7. ANTIMETABOLE: the repetition of words in successive clauses in transposed order. “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me” [Look What You Made Me Do] —@2AMevermore

8. ANTITHESIS: the two opposing elements are juxtaposed in a sentence with parallel grammatical structure. “The more that you say, the less I know” [Willow] —@2AMevermore

9. ANTONOMASIA: a descriptive phrase that replaces a person’s name. “Hello, Mr. Perfectly fine. How’s your heart after breaking mine?” [Mr. Perfectly Fine] “Mr. Superior-Thinking’, do you have all the space that you need?” [I Bet You Think About Me] —@2AMevermore

10. ASSONANCE: The repetition of similar vowel sounds in neighboring words. “Rosé flowing with your chosen family” [The 1] —@chrtucci

11. ASYNDETON: the omission of conjunctions from a phrase or sentence. “I made you my temple, my mural, my sky” [Tolerate It] “My heart, my hips, my body, my love, trynna find a part of me that you didn’t touch” [Death By A Thousand Cuts] —@2AMevermore

12. CHIASMUS: words in the first half of the first sentence are inverted in the second half. “Never be so kind you forget to be clever, never be so clever you forget to be kind” [Marjorie] —@2AMevermore

13. ENJAMBMENT: the meaning of a line is only completed on the next line. “And you were tossing me the car keys, “Fuck the patriarchy!” keychain on the ground” [All Too Well (Ten-Minute Version)] —@2AMevermore

14. EPIZEUXIS: the repeated use of a word for vehemence or emphasis, generally in the same sentence. “I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try” [Mirrorball] —@2AMevermore AND “We are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together. Like, ever.” [We Are Never Getting Back Together] —@chrtucci

15. HYPERBOLE: the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. “Fifteen years, fifteen million tears, begging ‘til my knees bled” [It’s Time to Go]  —@2AMevermore; “I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting” [This Is Me Trying] —@chrtucci

16. HYPOCATASTASIS: An implied comparison or resemblance that does not directly name its referent (an implied SIMILE or METAPHOR). “Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats” [Welcome to New York] —@chrtucci

17. JUXTAPOSITION: two words being placed close together with contrasting effects. “It was the best of times, the worst of crimes” [Getaway Car] —@2AMevermore

18. MESOZEUGMA: A form of ZEUGMA where a single word occurring in the middle of the sentence governs clauses on either side with different uses. “The moon is high like your friends were the night that we first met” [Paper Rings] —@chrtucci

19. METAPHOR: a comparison that directly relates one thing to another unrelated thing. “I’m a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here” [All Too Well] “We were a fresh page on the desk” – Cornelia Street “Loving him was red” [Red]  —@2AMevermore AND “Love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out” [I Know Places] —@chrtucci

20. METONYMY: the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is associated “You almost ran the red ‘cause you were looking over at me” [All Too Well] —@chrtucci

21. OXYMORON: a contradictory combination of words. “I’ve never heard silence quite this loud” [The Story Of Us] —@2AMevermore

22. PARADOX: a seemingly self-contradictory statement that can be true. “Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven” [Invisible String] —@2AMevermore

23. PARALLELISM: the usage of repeating words and forms to give pattern and rhythm to a passage, either to juxtapose contrasting ideas or connect similar ideas. “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers” [You Belong With Me] —@chrtucci

24. PERSONIFICATION: a non-living thing exhibits human behaviors “I asked the traffic lights if it’ll be alright, they say ‘I don’t know’” [Death By A Thousand Cuts] —@2AMevermore

25. POLYPTOTON: repetition of words derived from the same root within a sentence or phrase. “You had a speech, you’re speechless” [Champagne Problems]  —@2AMevermore

26. POLYSYNDETON: the addition of extra conjunctions for emphasis (the opposite of ASYNDETON). “All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life, and mean” [Mean] —@chrtucci

27. PUN: wordplay that exploits multiple meanings of a term. “Tell me what are my Wordsworth” – [The Lakes] (William Wordsworth was an English poet and he was the inspiration for the song [The Lakes] —@2AMevermore

28. SARCASM: the use of verbal irony to mock, ridicule, or express contempt. “With some indie record that's much cooler than mine” [We Are Never Getting Back Together] —@chrtucci

29. SIMILE: A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two dissimilar things. “You call me up again just to break me like a promise” [All Too Well] “August sipped away like a bottle of wine” [August] —@chrtucci

30. SYMBOLISM: the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. “I can’t stop you putting roots in my dreamland, my house of stone, your ivy grows, and now I’m covered in you” [Ivy] —@2AMevermore

31. ZEUGMA: The use of a word or phrase to apply to two others in different senses “You held your breath and the door for me” [Head Over Feet]   —@chrtucci

Robert F. Graboyes is president of RFG Counterpoint, LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. An economist, journalist, and musician, he holds five degrees, including a PhD in economics from Columbia University. An award-winning professor, in 2014, he received the Reason Foundation’s Bastiat Prize for Journalism. His music compositions are at YouTube.com/@RFGraboyes/videos.